CBLoL: Finals Preview

A team that is significantly superior to those in their region often plateaus without seeking out better opponents. This makes it difficult for a dominant domestic team to improve past a certain point, while they additionally become harder to evaluate in comparison to international competition.



Top Brazilian teams have been in this situation for a while. PaiN Gaming knows all too well the discrepancy between dominating your region while failing to evolve into any sort of international threat. As the de facto Brazilian League of Legends organization, paiN has attended more international tournaments than any other Brazilian team, tied with KaBuM e-Sports. Each time, they failed to move on to either the next round of competition or, in the case of Gamescom 2013, lost their chance to play in the World Championship.



Similarly, INTZ e-Sports tasted the same bitterness of international defeat last split. Dominating 2015 CBLoL Summer, the team traveled to the International Wildcard Tournament with high hopes as heavy favorites. They lost 1-3 to Turkish team Besiktas in the Final: their only opportunity for a ticket to the Mid Season Invitational.

A Truly Fearless Club

Following their defeat at the International Wildcard Tournament INTZ promptly returned home and won the XMA Mega Arena event in early May, reasserting some of their regional dominance. INTZ looked good going into the Winter CBLoL split, having learned a few things from their time in Europe.



Unfortunately, XMA would be their last tournament with star jungler Gabriel "Revolta" Henud, who left a few weeks later for Keyd Stars. Suddenly, INTZ's prospects plummeted in the eyes of the public. Revolta had been credited for taking the group of four young talents and transforming them into a domestic powerhouse. Without him, the landscape of the team shifted.



INTZ's players are not strangers to shifting landscapes. Previously, upon Revolta's acquisition, his teammates took time adjusting to his more aggressive and quick jungle style, having previously been led by herbivore jungler Thiago "Djoko" Maia.



With Revolta gone, support Luan "Jockster" Cardoso roleswapped into the jungle position. INTZ picked up veteran support player Leonardo "Alocs" Belo from sister team INTZ Red and immediately went to work on their synergy and macro play. Their first few weeks were shaky as Jockster adjusted to the jungle, and the rest of the team coordinated around him. INTZ dropped their Week 1 set to Revolta and Keyd 0-2, but bounced back in the second week with a 2-0 against Red.

During their more recent transformation, the burden of carrying initially fell on mid laner Gabriel "Tockers" Claumann. Often soaking up all three bans, Tockers drew opponents' focus while the rest of the team took objectives and honed their macro play around Jockster's pathing.



""We are not actually a mid-focused team but we were out of sync, so I just got the role to carry," Tockers says. "As time went by, we just became a team and made it that I needed to do less. I rely 100 percent on my team, and I know I do not need to be the carry but do what the team needs"



While Tockers was busy making his case to be considered one of the best in the region, Jockster and Alocs slowly but steadily began to click. With their newfound coordination, INTZ's vision control tightened and their map movements grew crisper by the week.



"Jockster's jungling shows obvious promise," coach Alex "Abaxial" Haibel says of the former support's transition. "But there are still big flaws to iron out. His synergy with Alocs can be at a very high level."



Additionally, this Finals marks Alocs' fourth trip to a regional final.



"[Alocs] has a veteran's discipline which helps set a good example for the rest of the team," Abaxial says.



Alocs' experience indubitably plays a part in INTZ's success, also aided by the fact that the team has had to shift their playstyle multiple times in their several iterations. This has created an incredibly malleable and seemingly meta-resistant squad that, if given time to adjust, can adapt to any style of play that suits them best.

Reclaiming the Throne

PaiN Gaming has had a rocky few splits in the last year, missing both the 2014 Regional CBLoL Final and the Summer 2015 CBLoL Final. Their last significant achievement was winning the domestic IEM San Jose qualifier before falling to Cloud9 in the first round of the actual event.



There are no doubts that paiN has always been able to acquire talent. Some of the most mechanically-gifted players in the region are on the current iteration of paiN, and throughout the years the organization has never lacked for top regional talent. However, as the game has shifted into a more team-oriented and macro-focused game, paiN has struggled to make the most of said talent.



"It is complex to work with a team of stars as paiN," coach Gabriel "MiT" Souza admits. "All [paiN] players have a lot of individual experiences and my main work has been uniting them as a team."



One of those aforementioned stars, carry top laner Matheus "Mylon" Borges, was recently acquired prior to the recent 2015 Winter split. Many feared that Mylon would be one carry too many on a paiN team that dedicates more resources to their mid laner, Gabriel "Kami" Santos and AD carry Felipe "brTT" Gonçalves rather than their top.



Committed to making the team work, both paiN and Mylon quelled this fear as the season progressed.



"After the change in the top lane, we have improved a lot," mid laner Kami says. "I think part of it is because now we absolutely know we can be the best team. Aside from that, we have gotten professional help from a group of sports psychologists who have worked with some pretty big names here in Brazil. The guys are great and have made a huge difference in the way we handle things out of the game and even during the matches."

Mylon has excelled on a variety of champions, from tankier initiators like Maokai and Sion to his signature carries like Rumble. He necessitates jungle pressure from opponents without always taking resources from his own team, freeing up jungler Thúlio "SirT" Carlos to farm up or gank other lanes.



To his own credit, SirT additionally began to diversify his jungle pathing while remaining one of the key components in paiN's macro play. Previously known as a jungler who always managed to be exactly where his team needed him, SirT's strengths lie in counterganking and helping control objectives, which have also aided paiN's growth.

Historical Context



The last time these two teams met in the playoffs, Tockers swept away paiN's imminent Game 1 win quite literally with a timely Azir ultimate and triple kill as paiN was killing INTZ's nexus. PaiN never fully recovered from the shocking loss and INTZ went on to sweep them 3-0.



"I was practically celebrating when the team was about to finish the match," MiT admits. "Unfortunately for us the defeat happened, but I think it was very important for our adaptation and evolution in this second split."



That semifinals series was Abaxial's first with INTZ and he remembers it well, albeit from watching replays. "Ironically I didn't see Tockers save the world live," he says. "I was not in Brazil yet and overslept the day of the semi-finals. I woke up to my team killing the Nexus 30 seconds later. Oops."



These two teams have met once more since that fateful series, with INTZ victorious in the 2015 Winter regular season set now owning a 6-1 record over paiN this year going into the Winter Final. However, INTZ is not taking these past performances as a measurement of this much-improved paiN team.



"I think Pain did a good job tightening their macro game between our Week 6 match and now," Abaxial says. "I am stretching my imagination to its limit to beat paiN."



MiT also speaks of sleepless nights and a laser-like focus on preparation, citing paiN's losses against INTZ as a catalyst for his team's growth. "We tried to work as much as possible the communication and the early game, especially after the games against INTZ this season."



This preparation paid off recently in paiN's 3-0 semifinals sweep of Keyd Stars that earned them a spot in the finals.



"The team was hugely dedicated," MiT says of his players and staff. "We motivated each other for the game against Keyd and we worked day and night to give our best against them. All the players were playing 14 hours a day, me and John [RNG, paiN's analyst] were sleeping only four hours a day."

Featured Matchup

It would be remiss to speak of INTZ without mentioning their top laner, Felipe "Yang" Zhao. Yang is a monstrous force top lane force that cannot be ignored. He often accrues leads himself, even in disadvantageous situations or lane swaps; however, if INTZ gives him an ounce of jungle help, Yang will transform that slight advantage into a significant lead.



Similarly, Mylon also will require attention from INTZ. Like Yang, Mylon is incredibly dangerous with a lead. The difference between the two lies in how they use their advantages. INTZ has a strong split-push setup and often relies on Yang's laning dominance in addition to his excellent minion control. Meanwhile, paiN is more likely to involve Mylon in skirmishes around objectives, making the most of his ability to control fights by laying down a perfect Rumble Equalizer or initiating onto a squishy target as Maokai.



With top lane additionally occupying a dominant spot in the current metagame, both teams will likely be looking to get their top laners involved as quickly as possible.

One More Time, One More Chance

Regardless of who is crowned champion of 2015 CBLoL Winter, Brazil should take pride in either of these teams representing their region. INTZ and paiN Gaming have each improved significantly throughout the recent split and looked impressive in their respective semifinals victories.



On Aug. 8, 2015, 14,000 spectators will fill Allianz Parque in São Paulo to see these two teams clash, making up the largest Brazilian League of Legends event in history.



"Even with all the players already used to finals, playing in the stadium will be a huge and unique experience," MiT says of the event's scope.



Yet, neither team will be satisfied without another taste of an international stage.



Both paiN and INTZ are finalists in 2015 CBLoL Winter. Both have experienced dominant phases and disappointing performances outside of their region. Both want the ticket to the upcoming International Wildcard Tournament to contend for a World Championship spot.



Brazil doesn't receive many chances. Both teams want to make this one count.

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