"Group Mid" Is Not the Answer to Everything
Today's post borders ranting, because this is one of those things that never fails to happen nearly every game, and it makes me want to punt a small baby animal into a busy highway every single time.
I don't particularly care for LCS and professional play. Not because it's not fun to watch high-skill players duking it out, but because a lot of things professional players do, amateur players think they can do, and they'll often take excerpts from the pro-play handbook when they don't understand when and why professionals do things.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule..
I think the single largest one of these (the most common) is the "group mid" mentality.
Now, I'm not saying that grouping (and especially grouping to siege) isn't important. I'm not saying don't ever, under any circumstance, call for a group up mid. Grouping, rotations, rhythm (pacing of the game), objective taking, and inhibitors are vital to the success of any game, but I one of the biggest calls I see that people make that lose games are grouping when we just shouldn't.
There are (generally speaking) two aspects of sieging; the two team comps (in contrast to one another), and timing.
Before the game has even begun, you should be able to spot whether or not you have a reliable siege comp or not. If you've got a Garen, Heimendinger, Caitlyn, Sona, and a Yasuo, than, yeah, it's probably safe to assume you can siege efficiently. But I will never understand people that go "we have to group or it's game!" at the 22 minute mark when we have a Lux, Trynd, Graves, Leona, and a Yi running jungle.
That's a split push comp.
"What's the difference" I hear people say?
Because we have no bloody sustain you goob.
In order to siege a tower, we need to either have timing on our side (the two other lanes are pushed nearly to tower, or they're down 1+ people), or a particularly well-planned siege comp. Otherwise, we're literally just walking under their turret for a team fight. And unless we're extremely ahead and/or pushing an advantage, there is never a good time for a 5v5 under tower (Baron/Elder are the obvious exceptions to the rule).
Just as bad as people not pushing objectives when it's prudent are people that are trying to force objectives when the timing is just as poor.
Stop me if you've heard this one. Somebody insists that you must push mid right now or else that's definitely game and they'll AFK (despite no evidence for this; the gold on both sides is completely even). Everyone groups mid. Everyone stands around in a circle in mid. Nobody wants to engage. You try to engage, and everybody warning pings you and calls you an asshole.
"Just because we're grouped doesn't mean we have to go in you scrub!"
THAN WHY THE FUCK ARE WE GROUPED!? What, did you need an excuse to get close enough to grope my ass? If you're going to fuck me and my game over, at least buy me a drink first.
While everyone is standing around singing kumbayas, Trynd has taken two towers and we're still standing here, still warning ping me not to go in.
So, why do people do it?
Well, for one, as I said before, LCS and professional play has a big part to do with it. Professional players know the importance of objectives and map control, and they instill this into their group play. But professional players also know never to attack the opponent's advantage. Sieges are either (generally) coordinated, and with a good assortment of champions for the task, or when an enemy has already died/towers are pushed/baron or elder buffs are going (or a combination thereof).
Second, I honestly feel people are just impatient. Yes, I know, pushing to win is (essentially) the entire game, but there are a lot of things that need to be taken into account. Yeah, cool, we killed their 0/4 Lux. What about the 23/0 Riven? The game doesn't have to end the second we get an advantage. There are other objectives aside from the towers themselves. Use that opportunity to safely push the lanes, get some wards laid out, take scuttles/buffs. Don't waste the opportunity, but don't get an opportunity so mixed up with winning that you overextend.
Third (and I'm sure anyone Gold or above is going to swoop in and tell me this like they usually do), Silver players really don't know what to do outside of group fights and mechanics. Ever seen one of those huge team fights go down, you're victorious; this is your chance to secure the map, take buffs, push lanes, get yourself ready for success!
...And then they run off to take raptors and argue about whether or not they should go for Baron (because that's the only objective you should take after winning a team fight, am I right?)
Knowing that you have an advantage is easy (they've obviously got one less champ than you), but know what you can do safely is different. Check death timers, check the champions that are still up. Did they have to take some time to back? Are they probably already on their way to tower? Are there any lanes that are currently being pushed towards us?
