In the finals of IEM Cologne, Gambit’s Alex Ich showed the world why his Malphite is to be feared. His full ability power build absolutely smashed Fnatic, destroying any hope they had of taking the game. But, while Alex’s play was certainly flashy, he was not the only key to victory. Many things had to come together for the mid-lane Malphite to function: Gambit worked as a unit to turn Alex Ich into a deadly force. Let’s take a look at what they did to help Alex overcome a massive cs deficit to turn into an explosive damage dealer.

Here is the VOD:

Early Game:

It all started in the early game, the make or break portion of the game for Gambit. Instead of opting out of the one on one matchup against xPeke, AlexIch remained in the middle lane. In this matchup, one would assume that Ziggs would be heavily favoured: his range, poke, crowd control and escape give Ziggs a significant edge. Alex knew this, and he plays conservatively for the first few minutes, allowing xPeke to pull ahead in terms of a farm and lane pressure, but conserving his health.

The tipping point came when Diamond on Elise recognises the mismatch: he ganks mid not only once, but three times between three and five minutes. While none of the ganks result in a kill, the pressure on xPeke was vital to balance out Alex’s weakness in the matchup. With his Flash burned and his potions consumed, xPeke was forced to play much more conservatively for the next little while, buying Alex the time he needs to equalize the lane and preserving Gambit’s middle tower. Do not underestimate the value of this early camping by Diamond: while xPeke continued to pull away in terms of farm over the rest of the game, these ganks gave Alex the start he needed to have an impact late in the game, and held xPeke down just long enough to prevent him from getting out of control. The repeated ganks also drew Cyanide to the middle of the map, creating space for the rest of Gambit to work.

Across the map in bottom lane, Darien exploited this weakness in Fnatic by claiming a massive lead of his own over sOAZ, eventually securing first blood. This allowed Gambit to take an early Dragon. Nothing was wasted for Gambit: drawing focus to the mid-lane turned into objectives and kills in other parts of the map. So, despite the fact that both xPeke and Rekkles were far ahead of their opposition in terms of farm, Gambit still had a 1k gold lead early in the game.

Another moment of Alex’s strong play came around the ten minute mark. Having just secured a kill on EdWard,

Fnatic was pushing with three strong on the bottom tower, with all intentions of taking it. Alex, anticipating the push, rotated over and dove in 1v3 onto sOAZ, nearly killing him. Although his move away from middle did not result in a kill, he managed to save the tower. xPeke, on the other hand, was denied the chance to exploit Alex’s absence by Diamond, who secured the lane. This is a key moment in the game -- not only did Gambit’s middle tower stay standing, preventing xPeke from roaming himself, it denied Fnatic not only one but two objectives. Alex Ich rotated fully understanding that while he is sacrificing valuable farming time, stopping Fnatic’s push was far more important. He knew the limits of his champion: Malphite’s strength does not come from massive farm, but landing strong ultimates which impact teamfights.

The Mid-Game

In the mid-game, Alex made the smartest call he could -- rather than competing with xPeke for farm and lane control, an impossible task, he makes himself useful by threatening with roams. Disappearing off the map for extended periods of time, Alex put a constant fear into Fnatic’s other lanes. At 16 minutes, Yellowstar landed a hook onto EdWard with Cyanide as backup, but hesitated. Alex was off the map, and while he wasn’t anywhere close to bottom lane, the mere threat caused by unknown whereabouts made Fnatic wary. So, while xPeke was about 70 cs ahead at this point, he and Alex have the same items. Why? Because the rest of Gambit were using Fnatic’s fear against them, pushing towers and taking Dragons uncontested while Alex farmed the jungle. As the global gold began to pile up, xPeke’s farm lead was mitigated and Alex began to match him in strength. Cyanide was afraid to gank lanes, and as a result Darien continued to dominate sOAZ, taking both top towers before 20 minutes.

Fnatic Hesitates: Notice that Alex is at Wolves, yet Fnatic does not commit to the gank

This was how Gambit so thoroughly dominated the middle of the game -- they understood the relative power level of all the champions on the field. Gambit knew that Fnatic needs to respect a Malphite early in the game, so they allowed xPeke to farm recognising that by the time he would be an impact, the game was already hopelessly out of control. They didn’t force ganks or push the middle lane, which could turn risky in a hurry, but made calculated use of roams to send Fnatic running scared.

The Result:

As the game moved more and more into Gambit’s favor they did an impeccable job of splitting attention in all lanes -- Darien pushed top, Genja, Edward and Diamond pressured bottom and the threat of Alex’s Malphite lurked around every dark corner of the map. Fnatic was never allowed to group and use xPeke’s farm effectively, and Cyanide laid useless in the jungle, never able to pull off a gank in complete safety.

At 23 minutes, Alex bought a full Deathfire Grasp and a Haunting Guise to go with it, transforming him from a roaming menace into a full-blown killer. With his items at 27 minutes, Alex had 280 ability power, making him more than a match for xPeke at the same time, with 291 ability power (note that he was about 100 cs behind). But, while Alex had slightly less ability power, his build allowed him to make much better use of it than xPeke’s. While the Deathfire Grasp is obviously central, providing 20% more magic damage and the initial burst, the dual penetration items of Haunting Guise and Sorcerer’s Shoes made Alex’s ability power very effective against the low magic resistance targets of Rekkles and xPeke. By unleashing Deathfire Grasp during his ultimate animation followed by a flurry of spells, Alex was able to eliminate targets in the blink of an eye.

Rekkles feels the full power of Alex Ich's combo

Not hesitating Gambit took a two man Baron, while the potential for Alex to delete one of Fnatic’s main carries kept them at bay. Finally, Alex’s patience and gathering of his strength paid off when he killed Rekkles despite being ganked 1v3. It took time to get to the point, but after all his items were complete Alex became the unstoppable force Gambit needed to finish off the game. From there, Rekkles never stood a chance, dying four times at the hands of Alex within the last ten minutes of the game. With their main carry eliminated and xPeke’s farm gone to waste, Gambit pushed their way to victory.

By the Numbers:

Masteries:

While the game was played on the old 3.13 version, here is a possible rune page which works with this build on the current patch. It covers all the ability power points in Offense, giving penetration, cooldown reduction and bonus AP, plus the "Double Edge" mastery for added damage. The points in Defense help with early laning, especially against ranged champions, providing bonus health, regeneration and damage block.

Runes:

A standard caster setup works best here -- dual penetration marks, armor seals and magic resistance glyphs provide a good mix of offense and defense. Flat ability power quints are good for early damage and mid-game power. In tough matchups, consider more defensive runes, while added mana regeneration or scaling ability power could be useful in easier lanes.

Skill Build:

In this game, Alex Ich goes for a skill build which maximises his early game power while providing enough wave clear to push back in lane. This means taking early points into Ground Slam (E) and Seismic Shard (Q) and skipping Brutal Strikes (W) until level 13, obvioudly taking Unstoppable Force (R) at 6, 11, and 16. Since Brutal Strikes does not directly contribute any burst damage, ignoring it is the best option to increase damage output as soon as possible. After taking 3 points into Ground Slam, Alex then maxed Seismic Shard. However, if more waveclear is required, maxing Groundslam is also viable.

The Combo:

These numbers are all based on Alex Ich's at 27 minutes into the game, but give a good idea of the amout of damage AP Malphite can dish out. With 280 ability power, here's the damage you can deal:

Deathfire Grasp: 15% maximum hp + 20% magic damage increase

Unstoppable Force: (200 + 280) + 20% = 576 damage

Seismic Shard: (270 + 168) + 20% = 525 damage

Ground Slam: (220 + 30 + 56) + 20% = 367 damage

Total burst damage = 1468 + 15% of target’s maximum hp



Lessons Learned:

While Alex’s huge amounts of damage were certainly spectacular, they were the result of a carefully crafted and well executed game plan by Gambit. They knew from the start that xPeke’s farm advantage would be massive, but they wisely didn’t force anything, instead using the inherent strengths of their lineup to create space around the map. The constant threat of Malphite roams kept Fnatic pinned down, and a strong split-push from Darien bought Alex enough time to recover from his rocky start. So, while Alex’s play was individually brilliant, give credit to the rest of Gambit for knowing the weaknesses in their lineup and compensating, while at the same time never allowing Fnatic to use their strength and group as 5.

1. Running middle lane Malphite is a concentrated, focused team effort. This build requires time and patience before paying off, so coordination with your team is key. Gambit showed how to apply pressure without over-extending to create space.

2. Being behind in farm, even massively, does not equal strength -- keep calm and play to your champion's strengths. Alex and Gambit recognised xPeke’s advantage, but played around it rather than against it, using Malphite as a ganking threat rather than as a laning presence.

3. Focus priority targets. Other than the ramp up time, one of this build’s weaknesses is that its damage comes all at once, so landing the combo is vital. Go for their highest damage source at all times and remove them from the fight.

4. Practice! This build takes skill and timing -- landing DFG mid-ultimate is not easy. It takes split-second timing and strong mechanics. The power of this build comes in using it properly, so practice it well.