Observations from the NA LCS scounting grounds finals

League of Legends.
League of Legends. /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 3
Next
league of legends
SANTA MONICA, CA – MAY 28: Alvin Ngo (Gaow Gaiy) of the University of Toronto at the League of Legends College Championship match between Maryville University and the University of Toronto at the NA LCS Studio at Riot Games Arena on May 28, 2017 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Josh Lefkowitz/Getty Images) /

Game 2: A tale of two mids

The second game of the series saw a power match-up in the mid lane between Soligo and Lee “Strompest” Seung-min, the mid laner of Team Infernal. After Strompest picked Irelia for the game, Soligo picked Syndra to go against him.

Irelia has been somewhat of a queen in mid lane since her rework earlier in the year. She was picked or banned in 83% of games at the 2018 World Championships and boasted a 14-10 win/loss ratio. In the mid lane, she was seen as a very powerful pick into mid lane mages including Syndra. In the two games at Worlds where Irelia faced a Syndra in mid, the Irelia won both games with a combined KDA of 14/0/9.

However, when the game was done it was clear that Soligo had massively outperformed Strompest. In terms of damage done, gold, and creep score Strompest was consistently playing catch-up to Soligo, who never let off his advantage.

Some of that disadvantage can be attributed to Strompest’s jungler, Kenji “Srkenji” Luke Kaneko, who died twice in the early levels and gave a kill and assist to Soligo’s Syndra. However, in team fights Strompest had a lot of difficulties, missing key skill shots and ultimates. By contrast, Soligo wrecked those fights and ultimately tipped the balance towards Team Mountain to tie the series.