Dig into the Rift: A tug of war between TSM and Team Dignitas

Welcome back to another installment of "Dig into the Rift". For those who didn’t catch last week’s blog you can find the link here. So without further ado let’s dive into the week eight match between Team Solo Mid and Team Dignitas!

Bans

Team Solo Mid

Lee Sin

Elise

Aatrox

TSM was obviously thoroughly impressed with Team Dignitas' change of pace, and with this came a respect to ban out someone who has been a huge keystone in their game making plays, Alberto "Crumbzz" Rengifo. The past few weeks Crumbzz' initiations and map dominance has really stepped up to levels we haven't seen in weeks, and with that came some very awesome Lee Sin and Elise play.

If TSM wants this game on their terms, they needed to take him down and pigeon hole him into a smaller list of champions. Finally they also banned out Aatrox, which I'm sure didn't phase the permanent smile on Alan "KiWiKiD" Nguyen's face. KiWiKiD has been doing a phenomenal job since his first game with Aatrox in the North American LCS, and this was another shot by TSM to take down Team Dignitas' ability to initiate on their terms, and not TSM's.

Team Dignitas

Karthus

Shen

Rumble

Team Dignitas went for the two figure heads on Team Solo Mid; Marcus "Dyrus" Hill and Andy "Reginald" Dinh. Anyone who's followed the NA LCS knows that Reginald's favorite, and easily his best, champion is Karthus. While he is a very well versed Twisted Fate player and has several other champions under his belt, Karthus is where he shines brightest. Team Dignitas is aware of this and snuffed out his hopes and dreams with that ban.

After that Team Dignitas went for a double header with another global ultimate taken out of the game with Shen, and then a poke at Dyrus by banning out one of his best champions, Rumble. Banning out Rumble meant that Team Dignitas could now go for the composition that it wanted; heavy dive and control, without the risk of an Equalizer and a Flame Spitter to the face from that overzealous Yordle.

Picks

Team Solo Mid
Support	Thresh	Alex "Xpecial" Chu
Jungle	Nasus	Brian "TheOddOne" Wyllie
Top	Jayce	Marcus "Dyrus" Hill
Marksman	Graves	Jason "WildTurtle" Tran
Middle	Kassadin	Andy "Reginald" Dinh

TSM obviously didn't appreciate the 3 directed bans to their lineup, and given by their picks, Rumble or Karthus could have been key in the composition with their heavy engage. To answer the shots fired by Team Dignitas, TSM picked up both Graves and Kassadin, two picks that William "Scarra" Li and Michael "Imaqtpie" Santana choose frequently. The overall composition for TSM lends its self to harassing and pushing lanes heavily.

The Kassadin pick means that Team Dignitas cannot let any of its players get caught off guard and alone pushing a lane unless they can actually get away from Kassadin, while Graves and Nasus allow for heavy lane pushing with Buckshot and Spirit Fire. On top of it all being caught over a wall from Death Sentence by Thresh or an empowered Shock Blast could mean certain death for any member of Team Dignitas.

Team Dignitas
Support	Sona	Jordan "Patoy" Blackburn
Jungle	Jarvan IV	Alberto "Crumbzz" Rengifo
Top	Zac	Alan "KiWiKiD" Nguyen
Marksman	Ezreal	Michael "Imaqtpie" Santana
Middle	Diana	William "Scarra" Li

Team Dignitas went for hard engage and control. The whole goal of their team is to group them up and keep them there while playing nothing but comfort picks. None of the champions that Team Dignitas chose are rare to each player. We have seen KiWiKiD take Zac top lane and win successfully, and we all know one of Scarra's two favorite champions is Diana (the other being Katarina of course).

Then of course we have the Flash Crescendo master, Patoy, on Sona. Their whole team is based around a "Wombo Combo" that could be played out in almost any order. The use of Cataclysm, Lets Bounce!, Moonfall, and Crescendo will keep the enemy team from moving while leaving Imaqtpie to skirt the entire fight firing though them with every ability in his arsenal.

Both teams offer a fierce front line with the ability to melt any one member if caught alone, with little to no room for an escape. What it boils down to is who can execute it best. Let's get down and dirty and get into the Rift.

DIVE DIVE DIVE!
The match starts out with Team Dignitas and TSM both sending their lanes to the same matchups. Assassins in the mid with the two versus one lanes on the outside, Team Dignitas going top with its marksman and support and TSM going bottom with theirs. The game is slowly setting its self-up for an early climax. What Team Dignitas is doing this early game, is the same thing it has been doing for a few weeks now with great success.

They are forcing the jungler to the top while leaving KiWiKiD alone in the bottom lane to fend for himself for as long as he possibly can. This creates some openings for Team Dignitas. For starters the lack of vision on Crumbzz means that WildTurtle and Xpecial cannot push out, and it also means that Reginald has to worry about a gank from behind his tower meaning that Scarra can freely farm under Reginald's tower while harassing him at every chance he gets due to TheOddOne being present in the top lane.

This leads up to a big early play by Team Dignitas. They abuse Kassadin's early levels where he has no Rift Walk and come right over the wall by the wraith camp, causing him to burn his flash and killing him while only costing Team Dignitas Zac's passive. While they did give up first blood, TSM takes the bottom tower with impunity.

Know thy enemy
Shortly after the play in the mid lane the game levels itself back out, but only for a moment. As Team Dignitas pulls back into their jungle and their side of the map, TSM heads for the objective that Team Dignitas is waiting for; the top turret. With this move they close into dragon, drop a Vision Ward, and take the dragon down quickly without losing more than half of the top towers health. This puts Team Dignitas at a very large gold lead even while down a tower in the bottom lane.

Retaliation
TSM isn't happy with Team Dignitas taking the dragon right in front of them, so in response Reginald heads top with Dyrus to take the top tower against Crumbzz' Jarvan IV. Just on the outskirts of range Zac lays in wait and dives in just as Reginald Rift Walks in. The fight ends with a one for one and a tower in favor of TSM but it doesn't end there. KiWiKiD pushes Reginald out of the lane and takes the top tower while Imaqtpie takes bottom with Patoy. More is piled onto Team Dignitas' commanding gold lead.

Dat Flash.
TSM groups up in the middle lane to attempt to push down Scarra's tower but a beautiful Flash Crescendo from Patoy just locks them down as Imaqtpie jumps into the fight. The one thing that fueled this fight was the fact that Dyrus was down bottom and it would take him far too long to travel to the middle lane and be of any use in that fight. With the numbers advantage they all dive into TSM letting Patoy shine with his lock down and ending the fight with a kill for himself.

Team Dignitas make a judgement error...
Advancing into the bottom lane Team Dignitas moves in to take the inner tower. To begin the battle, Xpecial is caught out in the jungle, where Crumbzz makes the very careful decision of making him use his Flay before casting Cataclysm on him, sealing him into his own Box and securing the kill for Team Dignitas. However with this strong play, you'd expect Team Dignitas to have no issue claiming the inner top tower for themselves, however, Crumbzz makes a calculation error and dives too far to attempt to kill Dyrus' Jayce. This costs Team Dignitas in a big way.

TSM quickly forces them up the lane attempting to keep Patoy and Imaqtpie out, but a quick crescendo gives some light to the dire situation, but not enough. WildTurtle turns around and rips into Imaqtpie with his Collateral Damage and Buckshot combo but only to get killed off by KiWiKiD on Zac. This flaw costs Team Dignitas the chance to take the tower, a huge bounty on Imaqtpie, and gives TSM the footing they were looking for all game. TSM is a momentum team. All they need is one team fight to get rolling into the right mindset, and Team Dignitas knows this, having a very long history against TSM.

 

Force Pulse, It's what's for dinner tonight.
After a failed Baron attempt but a solid stop to a siege on the inner middle tower, Team Dignitas move into TSM's jungle behind the Elder Lizard camp to go after a singled out Nasus after a failed Red Buff steal. Nothing goes right in this battle for Team Dignitas. Their area of damage ultimate is down due to Imaqtpie using it on an attempt to steal the Lizard Elder's buff. All of their control ultimates are spaced out. Scarra never had a chance to pull them all in, and lastly KiWiKiD was a few seconds late with his landing and ultimate due to being in TSM's Golem jungle. This fight was just a disaster, giving TSM more incentive to keep fighting while Reginald comes back in and cleans it up with a few well-placed Force Pulses.

 

A fumble at Dragon.
In my last blog I focused on Curse and Team Dignitas' game and the turning points that lead to Team Dignitas taking a huge lead was letting the enemy team take the Dragon because an engage would mean death for Team Dignitas. This week, they didn't remember that play. For some reason, that I cannot quite understand, Crumbzz and KiWiKiD dive deep into the Dragon Pit and all of Team Dignitas goes in, but several seconds away. The distance covered with the leap to Jarvan IV's Demacian Standard and Zac's Elastic Slingshot means that they cleared ground that would take some time for the rest of the team. This cost them 4 more deaths, and a dragon all because not only did they engage wrong, but they did so without the key to their team fighting success; Crescendo.

Scoreboard (28:45)
	TSM	DIG
Towers	4	4
Kills	13	13
Gold	42.8k	44.6k

Remembering how to walk again....
After the teams disperse and recall back to base, they find themselves in TSM's Golem side jungle. This is what Team Dignitas wants. They end up finding an engage in a tight area and grab themselves a two for two trades. Under any other circumstance this would be bad, however, this is what Team Dignitas needs in order to remember "Hey we can kill these guys; if we play it right we can". The only reason that fight didn't go better was due to a position by Patoy that caused his Crescendo to miss all of TSM's members. However, this is the footing they need to push back.

...On unstable ground.
KiWiKiD walks right into where TSM want's him, getting hooked right off the bat and causing a poor engage for Team Dignitas. Even with the poor placement, Team Dignitas pulls out fast enough to only lose two members of their team and pick up a kill on WildTurtle but end up losing a tower in the process.

Reginald falls asleep at the wheel while Team Dignitas finally wakes back up.
Team Dignitas shows a beautiful display of map awareness while Reginald shows a terrible display of how to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Reginald shows his face bottom lane with Team Dignitas posturing around Baron Nashor. This means one thing to Team Dignitas. "Take the Baron and murder all that stand in our way". With a beautiful engage on Team Solo Mid they burn though Dyrus' Guardian Angel and make a nice soup out of WildTurtle, topping the whole thing off with a Baron for free. A beautiful display of Team Dignitas' "Wombo Combo" and map awareness.

Okay I lied...they're still asleep...
TSM chases Team Dignitas out of their base but only for a moment. Reginald has a brilliant idea, he baits Team Dignitas into waiting for his team to regroup, draws an engage in upon himself, Rift Walks out and watches his team tear into Team Dignitas again.

The beginning of the end.
Team Dignitas finally snaps into action for the last time and remains aware and awake. Catching both WildTurtle and Reginald in a Crescendo in the middle lane causing them to clear a three for zero plus a tower and an inhibitor. This is the huge lead that Team Dignitas needed to seal the deal.

The nail in the coffin: Ezreal Mechanics.
With an engage onto Baron, Team Dignitas draws TSM closer into their kill box. Opening into a Crescendo into Jayce they just go in after that, ultimate after ultimate thins their teams out insanely. The one saving grace to this team fight that was sitting on the edge of a loss, Imaqtpie pulls off an amazing performance on his Blue Ezreal, and shows why that build, and play style, is phenomenal. GG Team Dignitas.

What to bring with you to solo queue.

1. Maps matter. I've said it once, and I'll say it again. Watch your map. Your map is the only ally you have in solo queue that you can always count on being right.
2. Know when it's a good time to show your face far from an objective. Reginald cost his team a Baron and some kills as well by being on the other side of the map. Dyrus cost his team kills as well by being on the far side of the map. If you don't have teleport and you're going to go bottom, it better be worth what you may give up.
3. Be aware when it's okay to give up Dragon. Last week I said this because that's what Team Dignitas did. They gave up a Dragon and that meant a serious turn around and lead for Team Dignitas. This week it cost them the game almost twice.
4. Never give up. Never surrender. Team Solo Mid earns a lot of respect from me with how they played. They knew they were in the hole several thousand gold. They knew they were behind on a lot of items, and made mistakes, but they also forced Team Dignitas' hand with some very smart plays and almost sealed the deal on this game.
5. Never underestimate the power of Creep Score. Scarra's small but solid lead in the early game turned into a lead over Reginald's creep score by over 90 creeps at one point. When you break it down to almost thirteen creeps to a kill.

Good luck out there on the Rift!
-Kjotvi

 

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Last week I never took the time to introduce myself so I'll go ahead and do so now. My name is Jacob "Kjotvi" Kuberski. You can call me Kj. I am an avid League of Legends player and a huge fan of eSports from World of Warcraft to Starcraft, Tribes to Shootmainia, and of course, Dota and League of Legends. I am currently a Gold ranking League of Legends player, whos climbed up from Bronze 4 by just watching streams and analyzing what goes on and taking that into my own games.