The Breakdown - Team SoloMid vs Cloud9
Riot·6/19/2014, 10:37:20 PM·1 votes·3,090 views
On the verge of falling into the bottom four, TSM couldn't have picked a better time to regroup and make a strong showing to remind everyone that they're still a team to be contended with. In their opening Week 4 match against Cloud9, TSM displayed impressive teamwork and found multiple ways to help propel WildTurtle into hypercarry status.
Equipped with two stealth champions, Cloud9 looked deliver the first blow in teamfights. Once Meteos' Rengar or Sneaky's Twitch have chosen a target to take out, C9 had two strong follow up abilities in the form of Balls' Dragon's Descent and Hai's Urchin Strike. Not to discount TSM, thought, as they came prepared to initiate teamfights themselves with two 1000+ range skill-shot crowd control abilities from Gleeb's Death Sentence and Amazing's Cocoon. In the end, it was going to come down to a race between WildTurtle and Sneaky to see who could make the greater impact in the late game.
Destiny + Dark Passage, Bjergsen's quick in and out
While TF’s ultimate Destiny frequently placed Bjergsen in the line of fire in order to get off the perfect stun for his team, ganking a lane in which Gleeb was present provided Bjergsen the means to escape after his daring maneuver. In the case of this teamfight in top lane, the combined crowd control from Bjergsen and Gleeb ensured Sneaky was dead in his tracks. The Dark Passage allowed Bjergsen to prolong his life for those few extra seconds before forcing C9 to make a play and dive TSM's top inner turret in order to pick up kills. Unfortunately for the pair, the skirmish ultimately resulted in a 2 for 1 kill trade, with the advantage going to C9. However, because how much how long it took for C9 to take down Bjergsen and Gleeb, WildTurtle had plenty of time to solo farm bot lane.
Zero hesitation for the two man Flash/Flay
Demonstrating his confidence with Thresh, Gleeb jumped at the first opportunity to start a teamfight for TSM. Although LemonNation and Balls were immediately bombarded to half life or lower, TSM immediately disengaged from the teamfight the moment Meteos jumped on top of Bjergsen with Thrill of the Hunt. TSM's instantaneous decision that trading their mid lane for C9's top lane or support would be undesirable proved to be the correct call. By coming to Bjergsen's immediate aid, TSM kept him alive and forced Meteos into an isolated situation and picked off C9's jungler at no loss. With C9 lacking a Smite, TSM easily took down Dragon after picking up another kill on Hai.
TSM's roulette of stuns and roots
Expecting C9 to clear wards near Baron, Amazing landed a perfect Cocoon on LemonNation. This provided a stationary target for Gleeb's Death Sentence and Bjergsen's Gold Card. This forced Hai to use his Chum the Waters defensively to disengage. However, immediately following Urf's disappearance, Bjergsen used Destiny to finish what TSM started. With Dyrus Teleporting into C9's backline, Bjergsen went after the same target, stunning LemonNation for a second time and causing LemonNation to expend yet another ultimate defensively. As C9's support falls, TSM have complete map control to push down the top inner turret uncontested and take a two turret lead over C9.
A shiny Gold Card for Sneaky
TSM continued to show an uncanny defense for WildTurtle whenever he became an open target. When C9 aggressively assaulted TSM in the jungle, WildTurtle was close to sudden death if not for the Face of the Mountain and Mikael's Crucible activations from Gleeb. As TSM reassembled their frontline to provide renewed protection for their ADC, Bjergsen impressively used his Destiny to grant WildTurtle additional coverage. With WildTurtle going in hard to pick up kills despite having less than a quarter of his HP bar, Bjergsen's Destiny gave TSM a clear line of sight on Sneaky. To make matters even better, he tossed a Gold Card on Sneaky to prevent any possible Ambush Sneaky may have had planned to snipe WildTurtle. With Sneaky momentarily incapacitated, Bjergsen threw his Wild Cards in the direction of the C9's frontline in order to assist his team take down LemonNation.
Urf almost got a bite of Turtle!
With TSM pincered by Hai from the back and the rest of C9 on the front, WildTurtle became the unlucky recipient of Chum the Waters. Acting with an impressive reaction time, a quick Mikael's Crucible from Gleeb negated Hai's ultimate. Gleeb landed his Death Sentence after LemonNation's Unbreakable came down and TSM eliminated C9's support before he could use Glacial Fissure. Facing a 4v5, C9 almost turned the tides of the fight when Sneaky unloaded his Rat-Ta-Tat-Tat on multiple TSM players. But in the end, TSM's Exalted buff and item advantage managed to keep both Gleeb and WildTurtle alive and pushed TSM even further ahead with another two kills for free.
Everything explodes as soon as the inhibitor turret falls
Gleeb landed his biggest Flay of the game when he knocked Balls back from his Dragon's Descent and prevented C9's bruiser from wreaking havoc on top of TSM's carries. Bjergsen fearlessly used Destiny to get back into the fight to assure the remaining C9 players couldn't retreat. Even if Bjergsen had dropped (which he didn't), WildTurtle had enough health to clean up and win the teamfight. With TSM up ten kills, three turrets, and 14K in gold, the rest of the match was simply a formality before TSM finished the match and started out Week 4 with a crucial victory.
Team SoloMid - All aboard the airship
While WildTurtle finished the match with an impressive 13-1-5 KDA, the entire team played a role in how strong their ADC became. From proper defense to funneling kills, TSM made all the right moves as a team to make every WildTurtle fantasy owner extremely happy.
Cloud9 - Separation during teamfights
Too often during teamfights, a single Cloud9 player would get isolated either by diving too far for a TSM carry or attempting to flank. This resulted in a lack of focus fire from C9's side and several TSM players wounded up surviving with mere slivers of health remaining.
Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he wants to know what is your favorite non-bot lane champion duo? You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.
Assembling the team
Bans & Picks- TSM bans: Morgana, Lulu, LeBlanc
- C9 bans: Kassadin, Lee Sin, Lucian
- TSM picks: Corki, Elise & Thresh, Twisted Fate & Renekton
- C9 picks: Shyvana & Braum, Rengar & Twitch, Fizz
Equipped with two stealth champions, Cloud9 looked deliver the first blow in teamfights. Once Meteos' Rengar or Sneaky's Twitch have chosen a target to take out, C9 had two strong follow up abilities in the form of Balls' Dragon's Descent and Hai's Urchin Strike. Not to discount TSM, thought, as they came prepared to initiate teamfights themselves with two 1000+ range skill-shot crowd control abilities from Gleeb's Death Sentence and Amazing's Cocoon. In the end, it was going to come down to a race between WildTurtle and Sneaky to see who could make the greater impact in the late game.
Stunning cards and heavy chains
The first pick Corki for TSM spoke volumes of their team strategy going into the match. Not only is the Daring Bombardier a contested pick for both WildTurtle and Sneaky, but TSM wanted Corki specifically for his mixed burst damage in the midgame. In order for WildTurtle to really shine, he'd required the rest of his team to act as playmakers and find opportune moments to start teamfights in order for Turtle to clean up and collect kills. This is where Bjergsen's Twisted Fate and Gleeb's Thresh stepped up to the plate. TSM's Twisted Fate and Thresh combination provided a multiple ways to initiate teamfights. Off of Gleeb's 1100 range hook, the 1.5 second stun from Death Sentence was more than enough time for Bjergsen to lock a Gold Card every time. The reverse could also apply. Once Bjergsen hit level 6, he could Destiny into Gleeb's lane for a stun and set up Gleeb for perfect Death Sentence, coming together for a minimum of 2.5 seconds of immobility against a single C9 target. In tandem with Amazing's Cocoon and Dyrus' Ruthless Predator, TSM had an array of stuns to draw from during teamfights.An ace in the deck
Displaying a strong proficiency on Twisted Fate, Bjergsen consistently locks the appropriate card during team fights. Compared to past and present NA LCS mid lanes who also play Twisted Fate, this skill is not one to overlook. But what makes Bjergsen excel in particular with Twisted Fate is his positioning in teamfights, the location he teleports in with Destiny, and the timing of abilities, summoner skills, and item actives.Watchful, wary Warden
While Bjergsen was responsible for maintaining map control and dishing out tons of magic damage for TSM, Gleeb continued to play both offensive and defensive roles in teamfights. Whenever he isn't looking for openings to land his Death Sentence, Gleeb needed to be acutely aware in order to protect WildTurtle and Bjergsen from invisible threats.Wrapping up the match
Key moments for each team
Team SoloMid - All aboard the airship
While WildTurtle finished the match with an impressive 13-1-5 KDA, the entire team played a role in how strong their ADC became. From proper defense to funneling kills, TSM made all the right moves as a team to make every WildTurtle fantasy owner extremely happy.
Cloud9 - Separation during teamfights
Too often during teamfights, a single Cloud9 player would get isolated either by diving too far for a TSM carry or attempting to flank. This resulted in a lack of focus fire from C9's side and several TSM players wounded up surviving with mere slivers of health remaining.
Jack is a freelance writer for Riot Games and he wants to know what is your favorite non-bot lane champion duo? You can tweet him your thoughts @NeoIllusions.
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