Thursday, March 28, 2013

LCS Qualifiers: Day 2, Quarterfinals

Day 2 of Qualifiers is the Quarterfinals.  Anyone who wins here gets a berth into Season 3, apparently.  Losers go on to Day 3 eliminations.

Day 2, FeaR vs Meat Playground, Game 1
---FR bans: Amumu, Nunu, Kha'Zix---MP bans: Rumble, Jayce, Shen---
FR: Olaf, Cho'Gath, Karthus, Kog'Maw, Sona
MP: Malphite, Jarvan, Elise, Ezreal, Lulu
This was a long game.  Everyone was extremely wealthy by the end.  Both teams were geared for late game, and also had good late game defense.  Even though FR started pulling away at the end, it took them a lot of time to finally finish the base.  It was all a matter of protecting the Kog'Maw, their main source of damage, and that was a challenge, to keep Jarvan and Malphite away.  Phreak and Rivington (sp?) are entertained with MP Zuna's (Kog'Maw) volume level during team fights.

Day 2, FeaR vs Meat Playground, Game 2
---FR bans: Nunu, Amumu, Kha'Zix---MP bans: Rumble, Jayce, Kog'Maw---
FR: Shen, Nocturne, Evelynn, Graves, Lulu
MP: Malphite, Cho'Gath, Vlad, Ezreal, Sona
This one was a lot shorter, Phreak thinks that's because the teams have the measure of one another's skills and tactics. If so, that only applied to FR, because they were winning this game early and often.  Between Shen, Nocturne, and Evelynn, MP never had any idea when the engage was coming, and how many members of FR would be there.

Day 2, DirtNap Gaming vs GoodGame University, Game 1
---DNG bans: Elise, Ziggs, Akali---GGU bans: Jayce, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Nocturne, Kassadin, Graves, Lulu
GGU: Katarina, Shen, Karthus, Vayne, Nunu
Early lane switch, but the order of champs is still correct in spirit. Old school match-up mid between Kassadin and Karthus.  DNG gets behind early, and then doesn't seem to have a plan to get back into it.

Day 2, DirtNap Gaming vs GoodGame University, Game 2
---DNG bans: Elise, Ziggs, Nunu---GGU bans: Jayce, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Maokai, Kayle, Graves, Sona
GGU: Akali, Shen, Orianna, Ezreal, Lulu
Akali was banned in the first game and now that she wasn't, GGU takes her, and promptly becomes terribly over-aggressive on all fronts.

Day 2, DirtNap Gaming vs GoodGame University, Game 3
--DNG bans: Elise, Ziggs, Nunu---GGU bans: Jayce, Evelynn, Kha'Zix---
DNG: Olaf, Maokai, Kayle, Graves, Sona
GGU: Rumble, Cho'Gath, Anivia, Twitch, Lulu
All three of these games seem oddly dictated by failed attempts at first bloods.  Whoever tried it first invariably blew it, and the game seemed to snowball from that point onwards.  Both teams seemed good at pressing their advantage when they were ahead, but didn't have a plan for how to come back from behind.  In this case, it was GGU ahead from beginning to end.

Day 2, Curse vs Azure, Game 1
---CRS bans: Olaf, Nunu, Evelynn---AZG bans: Elise, Amumu, Kha'Zix---
CRS: Katarina, Cho'Gath, Twisted Fate, Miss Fortune, Sona
AZG: Shen, Nocturne, Orianna, Twitch, Lulu
Lulu gets caught out right at the beginning, and it doesn't get any better from there.  AZG pretty much gets destroyed. Voyboy builds a Warmog's Katarina top vs the Shen.

Day 2, Curse vs Azure, Game 2
---CRS bans: Kha'Zix, Nunu, Evelynn---AZG bans: Elise, Katarina, Twisted Fate---
CRS: Olaf, Cho'Gath, Ryze, Ezreal, Fiddlesticks
AZG: Rumble, Amumu, Karthus, Miss Fortune, Lulu
AZG makes it more respectable, but Voyboy would not be denied.  As Olaf, he teleported into the very center of AZG while they were taking dragon and just went man mode.  Which is a funny thing to say - after the game, you can see CRS celebrate by lifting Voyboy over their heads, and he is a really small dude. Phreak mentions that Voyboy actually already qualified for season 3 with CLG, but because he left the team, had to qualify again with a new team.

Day 2, MRN vs The Brunch Club, Game 1
---MRN bans: Malphite, Evelynn, Jayce---TBC bans: Jarvan, Riven, Anivia---
MRN: Cho'Gath, Nocturne, Orianna, Caitlynn, Nunu
TBC: Zed, Shen,  Kha'Zix, Ezreal, Sona
MRN ClakeyDeeeeee is the brother of TBC Nickwu, apparently.  A couple of exciting 5v5 fights that are close, but ultimately won by TBC due to very slight mistakes by MRN.  Kha'Zix also chalks up an official pentakill at one point.

Day 2, MRN vs The Brunch Club, Game 2
---MRN bans: Evelynn, Kha'Zix, Zed---TBC bans: Jarvan, Riven, Anivia---
MRN: Olaf, Shen, Ziggs, Graves, Lulu
TBC: Jayce, Cho'Gath, Ryze, Caitlynn, Nunu
TBC just slowly accumulates too much power for MRN.  Even though MRN dives through TBC to get to Caitlynn, Jayce and Ryze are still dishing out huge amounts of damage.

Results:
IN => Curse, The Brunch Club, Good Game University, FeaR
To Final Elimination Round => MRN, Azure, Dirtnap Gaming, Meat Playground