League of Legends IPL San Francisco Face-Off Recap

TSM WINS

"Supposedly" TSM (Team Solo Mid) was in a slump. If this is a slump for them, then regionals for season two should be no problem. After a shaky start versus Orbit, TSM managed to plow through the winner’s bracket and 2/0 a fatigued Curse Gaming (having played about eleven games straight) in the finals.

Although two of the major NA teams (Team Dignitas and CLG) were not present, I’m sure any team would be happy to play like TSM when supposedly “in a funk” after their 0/5 loss to Azubu Blaze the prior weekend. The team has made it very public that they are in full training mode—people who frequent streams will notice that TSM’s popular channels have gone dark as of late indicating such.

Team Legion???

A strong performance was expected from TSM, but what was unexpected was Legion’s stellar performance. Always a competitive but never quite “top tier” in status, the team’s ability to beat World Elite serves was quite the upset. Additionally, their ability to go toe to toe with Curse, even beating them in the winner's bracket before ultimately losing to them in the finals of the loser's bracket, shows that this team is worth watching in the coming weeks. Many people are expecting a strong showing this weekend at MLG Raleigh a tournament that has since been blown open as TSM has declined to attend.

Legion finished an impressive third overall.

Nunu and Sona are back!

After being nerfed into the ground what feels like ages ago, recent buffs have made Nunu not only a viable pick but considered for ban. Recent changes to consume (giving it a whopping 500 true damage at level one) allow him to aggressively counter jungle from the very beginning of the game. And every player that picked the champion (Brian "TheOddOne" Wyllie and Tyler "Lautemortis" Nicholls especially) took advantage of this, usually setting back slower, support junglers to the point of being worthless till late game .

Notably TheOddOne's play versus Brandon "saintvicious" DiMarco’s Amumu; in the final game saintvicious only received his first buff at the eleven minute mark… which was a red. To boot, he is still viable as a support, making him one of the few champions that can switch between support and jungle making him an extremely safe early pick.

Sona also suffered from nerfs a number or months back, killing her ability to out dps almost any lane composition in bot. Since buffing her (by reducing the global cool-down on her aura’s, allowing her to cast faster) she now has the ability to cycle power chords and auras more rapidly, vastly buffing her utility. In addition to this, her ult’s damage has been frontloaded allowing for considerable burst quickly turning many teamfights and surprise initiations. While ignored for a while in the competitive scene she was picked a whopping 18 times (most commonly by Curse’s support, Cody "Elementz" Sigfusson).

Is the Fatman now the best solo mid?

Gragas has always been a tertiary pick; strong but never a go-to. After seeing him used by Legion and the Asian teams, this seems to be changing. Even in the EU qualifiers last weekend Gragas was the most picked AP mid--even by players who are not known for playing the champion. For a long time, sustain damage casters such as Anivia and Karthus were seen as dominant in the meta but Gragas seems like the first burst caster in while to overtake them in popularity. A combination of his strong laning, high mobility, and comically strong burst seem to mitigate that he has a high margin for error. I would wager will be seeing more of him in the coming weeks right up to the championship as more midlane players begin to practice him up.

Is Nautilus Done?

While still a common ban in solo queue, Nautilus saw no bans, and the three times he was picked resulted in losses. Although difficult to determine for certain, this does not bode for what is considered one of the top utility junglers in the game. He seems to be losing out to champion that—while lacking his utility—have stronger base stats and are less dependent upon gear to allow them to effectively tank for a team; Nunu, Shyvanna, and Maokai being two of the strongest in the current meta that fit this bill.

How to Beat a 2v1

TSM showed how to deal with the rise of the 2v1 meta. In the fourth round of the winner’s bracket, Team Legion attempted to use this tactic on TSM… only to have it backfire terribly. After playing footsies with bot and top lane, TSM decided they had enough: they turned a 2v1 into a 3v1 (pulling their jungler) and proceeded to kill Legion's top tower only a few minutes into the game. From there, TSM proceeded to play a hyper aggressive game, forcing fights with low farm—taking advantage of their midgame teamcomp over Legion's lategame.

 

Remember, these are just highlights and observations. If you really want to know how it was and how the matches played out go watch some replays!