Impressive Performance by SKT closes out All-Star 2014
Riot·5/11/2014, 4:57:14 PM·1 votes·2,578 views
All-Star 2014 is officially in the books. And while there were a lot of truly memorable moments and epic storylines - Froggnivia, the MadLift duo, and the return of Misaya and Toyz - nothing was as impressive as SKT's dominating sweep of the All-Star Invitational. Read on to get a taste of the action!
Madlife got his Blitzcrank and Thresh banned out, but picked Kennen, while Doublelift picked Varus in the face of a Caitlyn ban. On the other hand, Diamond had Lee Sin targeted, while Bjergsen took Syndra and Karma bans. Bjergsen/Diamond went straight for Annie Brand, a huge kill lane, and fitting their Fire theme.
At level 2, Fire went all-in on Doublelift, but Madlife picked up first blood on Bjergsen (Annie). He immediately dove Brand, almost dying to tower aggro before he could back off. Minutes later, Fire went in on Madlife, killing him as Doublelift was one auto-attack away from killing Diamond, and securing the win.
Froggen vs WeiXiao
Marksmen were banned out hard, with Varus, Quinn, and Catilyn banned out, in addition to Kennen, Pantheon, and Lulu. WeiXiao locked in Jarvan, while Froggen locked in Yasuo. Anybody who’s played that matchup must have been ready for what happened. They have similar enough laning, but the sustain of Yasuo’s shield, the mobility of Yasuo, and the manaless status of Yasuo typically allows him to bully Jarvan around if Jarvan misses any knock-up combos. That’s exactly what we saw, with Froggen taking an early level 6, and going all-in, forcing WeiXiao back and taking the tower before he could return, giving the victory to Team Ice.
SKTT1K faltered momentarily when they defended their mid turret overaggressively, but were able to start fight after fight with a stealthed Twitch and Twisted Fate ultimates. Every time SKTT1K got a kill, they picked up an objective, while OMG seemed content to just pick up kills. By the 22-minute mark, SKTT1K was up 41k to 30k gold.
Game 3
Game 3 was nothing new, with SKTT1K dominating. Faker stole Xiyang’s Syndra. Impact (Shyvana) used teleport for an early kill for Piglet (Vayne). Bengi showed off extremely creative ward-dashing to dodge Gogoing’s ward for a kill top lane, then bounced back bot for another kill onto Piglet. Minutes later, it was 6-0, and SKTT1K had pulled out to a 4.5k gold lead at the 10-minute mark.
At the 18 minute mark, SKTT1K almost took their first inhibitor, with the score at 17-2, 7 towers to 0, and gold at 36k to 22k. 20 minutes in, both nexus turrets were down. If there have been doubts about SKTT1K’s ability to play in recent weeks, they appear to have been quelled, and it will be interesting to see if they can pull any momentum back into OGN.
Faker was absolutely terrifying, winning lane as Twisted Fate and pushing that lead into every other lane. In Game 3 vs OMG, he picked up Xiyang’s best champion (Syndra) and destroyed him with her.
Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman is a League of Legends mathcrafter turned esports journalist who spends his spare time staring at mountains of League of Legends data. Follow him @GentlemanGustaf on Twitter.
All Star Challenge – 1v1/2v2
Achie vs Shy Achie vs Shy was the first 1v1 of the day, and it did not disappoint. Achie banned out top laners (Riven/Jayce/Rengar) and picked Varus, while Shy banned out Marksmen (Caitlyn/Lucian/Draven), picking up Quinn. At level 1, Shy went all-in and almost died, retreating and recalling without any gold to buy any new items. However, he came back a moment later, going all-in at level 3 and taking Achie down hard. Cool vs QTV QTV came into this match confident, banning out the top three champions alphabetically and instantly locking Lee Sin. Cool banned Caitlyn, Master Yi, and Zilean, and himself picked Lee Sin. Cool took an early advantage with a health relic steal, holding a 10 cs lead for awhile. QTV picked up a red elixir to Cool’s long sword, and was able to bully him despite the cs lead. However, he was not able to close the cs gap, and Cool kept his cool, farming up to a brutalizer, then 1v1ing QTV for the win. Doublelift/Madlife vs Diamond/Bjergsen
Madlife got his Blitzcrank and Thresh banned out, but picked Kennen, while Doublelift picked Varus in the face of a Caitlyn ban. On the other hand, Diamond had Lee Sin targeted, while Bjergsen took Syndra and Karma bans. Bjergsen/Diamond went straight for Annie Brand, a huge kill lane, and fitting their Fire theme.
At level 2, Fire went all-in on Doublelift, but Madlife picked up first blood on Bjergsen (Annie). He immediately dove Brand, almost dying to tower aggro before he could back off. Minutes later, Fire went in on Madlife, killing him as Doublelift was one auto-attack away from killing Diamond, and securing the win.
Froggen vs WeiXiao
Marksmen were banned out hard, with Varus, Quinn, and Catilyn banned out, in addition to Kennen, Pantheon, and Lulu. WeiXiao locked in Jarvan, while Froggen locked in Yasuo. Anybody who’s played that matchup must have been ready for what happened. They have similar enough laning, but the sustain of Yasuo’s shield, the mobility of Yasuo, and the manaless status of Yasuo typically allows him to bully Jarvan around if Jarvan misses any knock-up combos. That’s exactly what we saw, with Froggen taking an early level 6, and going all-in, forcing WeiXiao back and taking the tower before he could return, giving the victory to Team Ice.
Finals: OMG vs SKTT1K
Game 1 Game 1 looked pretty even, with OMG taking an early lead and winning a few teamfights decisively. However, after picking off two members of SKTT1K, OMG tried to baron, and SKTT1K responded brilliantly, forcing the fight, getting the ace, and picking up baron, the inhibitor, and the game shortly thereafter. Game 2 In Game 2, SKTT1K turned their game on. Faker ended up 20 cs ahead despite being on the weak laner of Twisted Fate, and SKTT1K’s duo lane (Twitch/Zilean) beat out OMGs (Lucian/Thresh) for the early tower. Gogoing (Shyvana) was the only advantage for OMG, with an early kill and small cs lead over Impact (Trundle), but Faker was able to use Destiny to pick up a kill on Shyvana. Pantheon kept trying to get Gogoing snowballing, but SKTT1K took a tower and dragon in advance, pulling ahead to a 4k gold lead. From there, the game was out of control, with SKTT1K taking advantage after advantage whenever Twisted Fate’s ultimate was up.
SKTT1K faltered momentarily when they defended their mid turret overaggressively, but were able to start fight after fight with a stealthed Twitch and Twisted Fate ultimates. Every time SKTT1K got a kill, they picked up an objective, while OMG seemed content to just pick up kills. By the 22-minute mark, SKTT1K was up 41k to 30k gold.
Game 3
Game 3 was nothing new, with SKTT1K dominating. Faker stole Xiyang’s Syndra. Impact (Shyvana) used teleport for an early kill for Piglet (Vayne). Bengi showed off extremely creative ward-dashing to dodge Gogoing’s ward for a kill top lane, then bounced back bot for another kill onto Piglet. Minutes later, it was 6-0, and SKTT1K had pulled out to a 4.5k gold lead at the 10-minute mark.
At the 18 minute mark, SKTT1K almost took their first inhibitor, with the score at 17-2, 7 towers to 0, and gold at 36k to 22k. 20 minutes in, both nexus turrets were down. If there have been doubts about SKTT1K’s ability to play in recent weeks, they appear to have been quelled, and it will be interesting to see if they can pull any momentum back into OGN.
Top Performer
Faker
Faker was absolutely terrifying, winning lane as Twisted Fate and pushing that lead into every other lane. In Game 3 vs OMG, he picked up Xiyang’s best champion (Syndra) and destroyed him with her.
Mattias "Gentleman Gustaf" Lehman is a League of Legends mathcrafter turned esports journalist who spends his spare time staring at mountains of League of Legends data. Follow him @GentlemanGustaf on Twitter.
