A Frigid Showdown – A Hypothetical ARAM Cinematic Pitch

Following my decision to make a plea that the next Cinematic be set in the Howling Abyss and have an ARAM theme, I decided to go one further and try my hand at writing up a hypothetical version of how such a Cinematic might go.

It's one part "here's how it might work", one part trying to sell the idea, and one part "hey look at this thing that I did!"

I'm currently tempted to go another step after this and try storyboarding it, too.

So for your consideration, I present the first draft of a hypothetical cinematic scenario, "A Frigid Showdown"

The Teams: Blue Team:

Purple Team:

The Cinematic: We open on an aerial shot through the mountains – soon enough coming to a distance shot of the Howling Abyss. Perhaps Anivia does a flyby as she travels towards the Murder Bridge in preparation for the showdown.

Cut to a close up on the ground of the bridge. A lone Poro arrives on the scene, sniffing the ground as it looks for food. This food is soon provided as Bruam arrives on the scene, kneeling down and giving the Poro a Poro Snax which it eagerly devours before growing a mustache. The casual moment ends, however, as Braum turns his attention back behind him, where Ashe and Sejuani have arrived on the scene.

Both Ashe and Sejuani quickly take notice to each other and a fight almost breaks out between them. Bruam quickly intervenes, however, using his shield to stop Bristle as the boar stands on two legs and holding his hand out the other direction to stop Ashe from shooting. Once he has their attention, Bruam then indicates to the other side of the bridge. The point he is making is clear – they have a battle to win, and should be fighting the enemy team, not each other.

Rapidly, we move to the other side, where Ziggs is quickly making his advance. With hilarious glee, he leaves a trail of explosions in his wake as he easily clears out the minions in his way, Bouncing Bombs and Hexsplosive Minefields flying every which way and doing as much damage to the bridge as it does to the enemy minions. As he reaches the Blue Team’s tower and retrieves a Satchel Charge to destroy it, he gets hit by a Mystic Shot that knocks him backwards. Pan over to reveal Ezreal and Mordekaiser, eager for a fight. Ziggs simply smiles wide(r) and pulls out a couple of bombs.

Mordekaiser charges in and tries to slam Ziggs with his Mace, but Ziggs is too fast and evades it. He then uses a Satchel Charge to try to escape, throwing himself up in the air and lobbing a couple bombs at Mordekaiser. He’s surprised, however, when Ezreal uses his Arcane Shift to appear behind Ziggs and shoot him with the proceeding bolt, knocking his flight plan askew and crashing to the ground. Mordekaiser moves in and tries to squish the yordle while he’s down, but that’s when Volibear arrives on the scene, roaring as he Rolling Thunders into Mordekaiser with enough impact to knock Mordekaiser’s mace out of his hands, then uses the throw to smash Mordekaiser into a bridge wall, knocking one of the bridge statues loose. Mordekaiser looks up and is about to get out of the way, but then Lissandra – off screen – uses her Ring of Frost to keep Mordekaiser in place, allowing the statue to come crashing down on top of Mordekaiser.

Ezreal uses Arcane Shift to try to sneak up on Volibear, but a Crystallize ice wall appears in between the two, blocking his shot. This is when Braum, Ashe, and Sejuani finally arrive on the scene, and they do so just in time for the wind and snow to pick up and start flying around – Anivia’s Glacial Storm has just kicked in. The shot shows the ice bird up in the sky as she channels the storm, and then summons up a Flash Frost which is thrown at the assembled Blue Team as her ice wall falls, but Braum intervenes, blocking the shot.

Volibear tries to move in again, but is countered by Sejuani, who smacks the polar bear with a flail to the face. Ashe assists by shooting Volibear with arrows to slow him down, while Ezreal fires an Essence Flux.

Re-enter Ziggs, who has picked himself up and casually prepares his Mega Inferno Bomb. In a nod that leans on the fourth wall, he lights it up and holds it for a brief moment as he looks directly at the camera and does a knowing double-eyebrow raise – nonverbally, he’s saying ‘this is going to be gooooood!’

As he lets it go, however, Braum takes notice, and charges in. The bomb bounces of his shield, and just before it hits the ground, everyone who’s in-scene takes notice, turning their head to look towards the explosion. Braum slams his shield into the ground and stands behind it, then the bomb goes off.

Switch to an aerial shot as we see the mushroom cloud explosion and the shock wave passes by, showing the full extent of the kaboom, complete with Aniva circling around it up in the sky.

Back down below, we get a fuller view of the damage. Braum flies backwards past Ashe and Sejuani, impacting with the wall and being sandwiched between it and his shield before collapsing – unconscious – to the ground. On the flip side, a very scorched and darkened Ziggs flies backwards, but as he hits the ground, energy swirls around him as Zilean uses his Chronoshift to restore Ziggs back to fighting shape.

A brief moment of peace happens as Ezreal, Ashe, and Sejuani prepare to go back at it against Anivia, Zilean, and Volibear. Where’s Ziggs, you might ask? Well, off-screen, he’s taken to hiding in the brush. But more on that in a moment.

Ashe strikes first, using her Enchanted Crystal Arrow to shoot Anivia out of the sky. The Cryptopheonix freezes in mid-air, crashing down the ground and shattering into pieces, leaving a frozen egg in its place. Ashe gives a knowing smirk at Volibear and Zilean, who look at Anivia’s egg and know that a tactical retreat is in order. Zilean uses his Time Warp to give Volibear a boost of speed. Volibear’s distaste of Zilean shows through, however, when he swats Zilean aside, to allow him a better chance of escaping.

His teammate having betrayed him, Zilean is helpless as the Blue team charges in. Ezreal uses an Arcane Shift to teleport next to Zilean and shoot him so that he’s knocked back directly into the path of Sejuani’s charge, allowing him to get trampled. Sejuani and Bristle then proceed to crush Anivia’s egg as they continue. However, as the three blue team members continue on, Sejuani is stopped in her tracks – Lissandra strikes again with another ring of frost that brings Bristle to a screeching halt and knocking Sejuani flying forwards off her ride and hitting the ground.

Ezreal and Ashe take a moment to look back, but Sejuani – still recovering – waves them to go on without her, she’ll be fine. With her approval, the two charge on forwards.

Meanwhile, Ziggs reappears. Having hidden in the brush, he pokes he head out and watches as Ashe and Ezreal continue on towards the Purple side. He then looks towards the Blue base, and rushes on forwards. Throwing his bombs and charges at the turrets as he goes on by, he makes quick work of them, allowing him to continue relatively unhindered. And then he gets to the Blue Nexus as he attempts to complete a backdoor victory.

Too bad for him that his charge doesn’t go completely unnoticed. Back the other direction, Ashe and Ezreal turn to look towards their base. Ashe looks to Ezreal, who knows just what to do – he charges up his Trueshot Barrage and lets it loose, and we follow as it flies back home. Shortly before it arrives, we return to Ziggs, who is just about to secure victory for his team when he takes notice that something is coming his way.

The Trueshot Barrage then arrives, hitting Ziggs dead on the mark, knocking him off his feet and knocking the explosives out of his hands. As he stands up, however, he notices the true damage that’s been caused – the giant bomb on his back has been lit. He looks to the camera for a brief moment, shrugs, and then it sends him flying off into the air. In a scene reminiscent of his typical death animation, Ziggs flies up in a circular pattern before exploding mid-air.

Back at Ashe and Ezreal, the two nod at their success. They’re then re-joined by Sejuani, who’s managed to get Bristle free and catch up. The three share a nod, then charge in towards the Purple Base.

As the Blue team moves in, they start having to deal with Lissandra shooting her ice shards at them. Ezreal uses his Arcane Shift to get around the shots, Ashe jukes and rolls, while Sejuani simply tanks it. Just as they arrive, the see Volibear, waiting for them. The Blue team is force to come to a halt, however, when Lissandra makes her visual entrance. The ground shakes, then her Ice Tomb rises from the ground before shattering. The three Blue team members brace themselves against the ice, then observe the scene in front of them – Lissandra stands above them, with Volibear at the ready, angry and ready to go.

The Blue team preps to finish their assault, with Ashe readying her bow, Sejuani readying Bristle, and Ezreal preparing to fire off with his energy shots. And then Lissandra makes the first move, throwing a Glacial Path that comes directly at the camera, cutting it to black as it arrives and leaving the end up to the viewers imagination.

Cue the League of Legends title card…