As the 2016 European League of Legends Championship Series' (LCS) summer split reached its end, six squads emerged as potential contenders to win the playoffs title. In the quarterfinals, Unicorns of Love and H2K advanced and will next play fearsome adversaries G2 Esports and Splyce. While these teams are all preparing specifically for their opponents, they are also adjusting for Riot Games' changes to the meta game through the new patch.
The Unicorns of Love were less expected to reach the semifinals than H2K, but the meta changes and reckless decision making undid their opponents, Giants Gaming. UoL coach Fabian "Sheepy" Mallant was proud of his players' feat, but he knows the daunting task that awaits: beat G2.
G2 Esports, who have dominated their opponents in victories this split and count no less than three players in the summer split's All-First Team, is adding more strategic options to its playbook. The squad prepared for its World Championship berth during the season soon after acquiring Jesper "Zven" Svenningsen and Alfonso "mithy" Aguirre Rodriguez, shortly after its no-show at the Mid-Season Invitational (MSI).
For G2, the name of the game was versatility. G2's MSI opponents had worked to foil their strongest point in the spring split: Kim "Trick" Gang-yun and Luka "PerkZ" Perkovic's symbiotic play. By the end of the split, however, the squad secured the top spot with contributions from across the board, and the occasional losses in a best-of-two series did not detract from the team's World Championship aspirations.
"[Zven and mithy] had a really big contribution, so much so that we really had to start playing around other lanes because we were winning everything through bot lane," notes G2 coach Joey "YoungBuck" Steltenpool. "We were thinking [that] if we wanted to improve ourselves to be able to compete at Worlds, we need to be able to win games through top lane and through mid lane, so we started to work on that a lot through the split and had to drop a lot of games because of that."
However, G2's efforts during the split developed in a different game balance, where lane swaps and teamfight-oriented picks were the norm. In the current environment, lane swaps before the six-minute mark can hamper a team's chances to win a game. Happily for G2, this change plays to the roster's individual strengths. Combine that with mithy's shot calling and Trick's solid decision making, and this club is a force to be reckoned with.
If UoL is to take its semifinal match against G2, the team needs to pay attention to the phase of the game that occurs before the action even begins. In order to win in a game in the current patch, Sheepy states that absolute confidence in the drafting phase is necessary, as drafting interacts with lane matchups and game events to influence a team's winning conditions.
On the topic of G2, he concludes, "G2 is somebody who is forcing their play on you, who would try to push forward. You need to have an equally strong mindset, and if they're trying to brute force something and you are wavering, then you will most likely end up failing. That's why we'll need to work hard on ourselves and as a team, to make exactly sure [we know] what we are strong at, so if G2 is coming full force, we are able to hold against them and overcome them."
H2K versus the Splyce upstarts
In the other semifinal matchup, H2K faces a similar dilemma as they face the young but impressive Splyce. Splyce held a 3W-1L record against them during the season and, more importantly, showcased an understanding of the game far beyond competitors not named G2.
Most importantly, their growth has been spectacular. From the realm of bottom-dwelling teams still adjusting to the rigors of the LCS emerged a contender, and H2K's Marcin "Jankos" Jankowski goes as far as saying that Splyce's roster has top-of-the-league talent.
Does the former Follow Esports team have playoff experience? Not yet, and that may be H2K's saving grace. "It's their first time in the playoffs, so maybe - hopefully - they're going to be playing worse," states Jankos. "[But] I don't think so because [Splyce's Jakob "YamatoCannon" Mebdi's] coaching is going to stop it, [so they will] be fine."
But YamatoCannon, recently crowned Coach of the Split, may not need to change his coaching methods. As it turns out, he has primarily focused on picking stronger lanes, even during the lane swap meta. With recent changes, Splyce looks downright frightening.
Back during the summer split, in the middle of the squad's ascension through the ranks, YamatoCannon said, "We had to do a lot of work around figuring out what we think is the strongest blind pick or the best counterpick in specific scenarios. Luckily, with the players I have right now, they had massive champion pools. With how I think about pick and ban, I think [the combination is] just perfect."
Despite Fnatic choosing stronger lane picks against H2K, the latter emerged victorious from the quarterfinals based on their decision making and Fnatic's shortcomings, but Splyce is a different matter entirely. Konstantinos "FORG1VEN" Tzortziou and Oskar "VandeR" Bogdan of H2K will not have the same opportunities during the semifinals as they had against Fnatic's bot lane duo, and neither will their teammates Andrei "Odoamne" Pascu and Jankos against their respective matchups.
If H2K are to win, they need to control the movements of Splyce jungler Jonas "Trashy" Andersen and mid laner Chres "Sencux" Laursen around the map, and that involves developing similar chemistry between jungler Jankos and mid laner Yoo "Ryu" Sang-ook. "We still have to talk to each other way more," admits Jankos. "I think Ryu is very loud on how to play the map, but not always for me to help him, so I have to help him for that a bit. And then I feel like I should be more aware of what's happening in mid lane instead of going always into other lanes."
H2K had come close to reaching Worlds in 2014 and 2015, and they have another opportunity this split. On paper, they are as outmatched as UoL is, but their case is not as dire.