Skin Theme Matchup: Blood Moon vs Battlecast
Hello Everybody!
After making my "Next Battlecast Skin" thread, which can be found here, I thought it would be interesting to dive into something that I believe has not been done before.
As you may have noticed, Riot is starting to complete skin lines, and even send out skin lines that have a full team already dedicated to it (such as the Pool Party line). I figured I would dive into these team comps, and evaluate how they would work. Also, I thought it would be interesting to analyze a possible matchup between the teams, and give my own opinion, while also asking for the opinion of the community, of how that match would possibly play out (under the assumption that each player playing that champ has very good understanding of how that champ works (or, how we like to say "mains" them)).
So, my first iteration of this series will be the two newest skin lines that have just been completed (or, in Blood Moon's case, very close to being completed); Battlecast vs Blood Moon (do take note that if a skin line has multiple champs to fill the same role, I will choose which champ is regarded by the community as the overall better choice for that role)
http://i.imgur.com/3JNXemc.png?1
The Blood Moon Line:
Top Lane: http://loldb.gameguyz.com/images/skins_big_skin_fid_path/shen-blood-moon.jpg
Mid: http://ddragon.leagueoflegends.com/cdn/img/champion/splash/Akali_5.jpg
Team Comp Breakdown
Just at first glance, you can tell that this team has a TON of mobility. Dashes, jumps, a teleport, a lantern, etc. There is no doubt that this team can easily stick to whichever target they choose. However, that is also their weakness. This entire team is primarily single target focused, with very little in terms of AOE. Most people would call this a pick comp, or a team that lacks in team-fighting capability, and thus focuses on keeping priority targets out of the fights.
Then again, they make up for this weakness in just sheer damage. Akali is already known for snowballing out of control, and winning games pretty much single handedly (at least in the lower elo's). Add on the VERY scary bot lane of Kalista and Thresh, and Elise's percent health damage, you can pretty much guarantee that whoever this team decides to take down, they will do so VERY quickly.
The Battlecast Line
ADC: http://i.imgur.com/RBlVNPK.jpg
Team Comp Breakdown
Damage, damage, and more damage, with a side of damage. You think just the Void wanted to destroy everything? HA! The Battlecast team would like to have a word with you.
In all seriousness, though, this team comp is basically the exact opposite of the Blood Moon line (except for the damage part). An extremely beefy front line, with one hell of a damage dealing back line. Plenty of crowd control, coupled with a decent amount of AOE. Their main weakness though is that NONE of these champs have any forms of escape. They can disengage quite well, but engaging is a different story. If anyone jumps on one to take them out, their only hope is to either flash away, or tank-and-spank it, and pray to God they live.
In terms of team-fighting, however, they excel at. Near the end of this LCS season (at least in the NA LCS), we had a team comp called "protect the Kog" comp. This team primarily focused on keeping Kog'maw alive long enough in order to deal the damage he needed. This team is somewhat similar, except of actually defending a single champ, they clean up afterwards if that champ is to go down, simply due to the number of threats on the field.
The Hypothetical Battle Review
LANES
Top: 
vs
A slap fest if I've ever seen one. Both champs are relatively low damage dealing, and kind of counteract each other. Shen has decent poke, whereas Cho has awesome sustain. Shen uses energy, and Cho uses mana. As long as Cho does have mana, he would be quite the annoyance to Shen, with the constant knockups, and being able to heal anything Shen throws at him. On the other hand, Shen could potentially be an annoyance to Cho, with the constant poke, taunts, and shields.
Cho does tend to have slightly better waveclear though, thus, Shen would more then likely be pushed more towards his tower for most of the laning phase. However, keeping Shen under his turret is potentially a very risky move. The old saying of "Never Chase a Singed" should be coupled with "Never Tower Dive a Shen"; its just plain stupid.
More then likely, these two will just focus on farming and wait for ganks to come, both of which are great at setting them up.
Jungle: 
vs
With the new jungle changes, I suspect that both junglers would have a very difficult time clearing, at least early on. Once they get a few levels, and possibly a few more health pots, they both will be fine.
In terms of clear speed, Skarner obviously wins. The small, spam-able, AOE Q he has is just awesome at taking down camps. Not to mention he can soak up alot of the damage by just using his shield, something that Elise has to rely on her spiderlings to do, which takes some practice.
In terms of ganking, Elise is the obvious winner. This past LCS season, Elise was considered to be one of the best junglers in the game, especially early on in the season. Although she was nerfed, and also kind of out-meta'd, she still retains most of that former power, IF the player knows exactly what they're doing. Her stun, and then immediate gap-closer makes her excellent at locking in those early kills. She can also be built fairly tanky, and be used more as a utility jungler then a damage dealing one.
Mid: 
vs
Not an easy lane for Viktor. Akali is very well known for punishing any mistakes that a low mobility mage will make, thus, Viktor would not only have to play it extremely safe, but be damned sure not to make a single mistake. If Viktor can stay back and zone Akali out with his laser, he might have a chance at winning the lane.
If Akali is to get even slightly fed, there is no chance in hell Viktor could shut her down. The only hope he would have after that is to focus on objectives and famring, and keep an eye on her to keep his teammates safe, because his bottom lane will not have a fun time either. Speaking of...
Bot: 
vs
I honestly do not see Kog and Vel coming out on top in this situation at all unless the two were much more highly skilled then the Kalista-Thresh duo (but, like I said, we won't get into that). The synergy between Kalista and Thresh is just stunning. The only hope for these two to win this lane is to hug their tower, and pray that Skarner could pull of somewhat of an impressive gank. They would also want to keep their area heavily warded, because Akali will have no trouble whatsoever taking out both of them, especially if Thresh tanks the tower for her.
Kog and Vel have to play EXTREMELY safe, and pray that they could capitalize on any possible mistake the other two will make.
Team-fighting
If the Battlecast team can survive the onslaught of the laning phase, they may just be able to pull through. However, the Blood Moon team has the capability of completely running away with the game, and possibly even forcing a surrender.
Once teamfights start to happen, the Battlecast team would want to force those fights. They should never leave the company of their teammates, even if its Cho or Skarner, because the Blood Moon team will make very short work of whoever it is.
As for the Blood Moon team, they would want to stay away from those teamfights, and play a guerilla warfare type of game. A possible good strategy would be to have a 1-3-1 split push, that way they can break the Battlecast team up, and pick off those priority targets.
However, they would want to finish their game as quickly as possible, because the Battlecast team has a MUCH stronger late game then the Blood Moon team does. Everyone knows of the VERY scary late game Kog'maw. Back that up with a Cho'gath that could eat up everything the Blood Moon team has to throw at him, and a Skarner that can lock down that Akali for a short time, Kog has the potential to completely wreck the Blood Moon team. If he is to go down, the Battlecast team can still pull through. Viktor and Vel'koz should not be ignored. Even though Kog will be doing most of the damage, the burst from Viktor, and the true damage from Vel still has the potential to decimate the entire Blood Moon team.
Oh yeah, and Cho can literally eat whoever gets to a low enough health.
Conclusion
In my opinion, I feel the Blood Moon team holds the advantage. If they can start snowballing enough, the Battlecast team won't stand a chance. That being said, with every minute that goes by in the game, the Blood Moon team has less and less of a chance at winning. Kog will only hurt more, Cho will eat up more damage, and Skarner will lock down targets more frequently. Once the Blood Moon team starts losing ground, the Battlecast team could steam roll right through them, and into their base.
So, what do you guys think? Will the Blood Moon team win, or Battlecast?
