Observations from the NA LCS scounting grounds finals
By Josh Tyler
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.