Chexx Profile Joined May 2011 Korea (South) 5348 Posts Last Edited: 2013-12-31 18:32:37 December 31 2013 18:30 GMT #1



Welcome back to the TeamLiquid previews for OGN Champions Winter 2013-14 during the holidays we took a small break to tank new energy for the final weeks of Winter 2013-14. We also have another 20Q20A started with Flame and Maknoon which you can find



Signing off,

Chexx



Welcome back to the TeamLiquid previews for OGN Champions Winter 2013-14 during the holidays we took a small break to tank new energy for the final weeks of Winter 2013-14. We also have another 20Q20A started with Flame and Maknoon which you can find here



Table of Contents

Quarterfinal #3 Preview







Xenics Storm vs Najin White Shield

By: Manisier Can the Shield withstand the Storm?!

Our third Champions Winter quarter-final brings us an exciting match between two teams that have always struggled to find their identity within Korean League of Legends. Yet, for the first time, NaJin White Shield and Xenics Storm face the very real possibility of making it to the grand final in an admittedly weaker half of the bracket. For Shield, this match is their first real shot at making the semi-finals, having been matched up against many horrifically strong teams in the past, such as SK Telecom T1 and CJ Entus Frost. For Storm, this match is a testing ground for the reformed roster, which seems to have finally picked up steam this season as a low-economy, aggressive team. For both, this match is the biggest opportunity they have ever had as a competitive League of Legends team - a true opportunity to make the semi-finals.



Storming the Gates



Being placed in Group D, the relatively new Xenics Storm were not immediately written off like Team NB or Team Dark. Yet, no one would have guessed that they would have topped their group against CJ Entus Frost, holding a total 2-1 record against them for the season. Xenics Storm may well be the biggest surprise this season, playing a refreshingly aggressive game that would see them eliminate the Jin Air Greenwings from Champions Winter, and knock Frost down a notch. With a rich history including players such as Impact and Daydream, Xenics Storm have finally found a winning formula with their new roster.



Much of their newfound power can be attributed to their acquisition of the 'mid lane jungler' Swift, and roaming support Piccaboo. Two strong players who slam their foot on the accelerator from the fountain and never letting off, they have worked together to enable Storm's fast, aggressive rotations. Xenics Storm is easily one of the most confident, aggressive teams in Champions Winter, reminding many of the early KT Rolster B and NaJin Sword with their 'Do Dive' mentality. Their opponents play a more methodical game than they do, and they must search for chinks in the NaJin armour in order to break through to the semi-finals.



From Shield to Fortress



With every season of Champions that passes, we hear the same thing - Shield is getting better. They looked promising with Locodoco, and even moreso once Zefa hit his stride. NoFe, long considered a strong jungler, awoke in the lead-up to Champions Winter, becoming one of the best junglers in Korea by virtue of his precise ganks and incredible mechanical ability. Although Shield fans may have lost faith already, it is still incredibly difficult to deny that Shield is improving. Yet, a fortress is not built in a day, and Shield are a testament to this fact. This season, under NoFe's leadership, Shield are slowly overcoming their early game troubles and looking much more comfortable when given the lead.



Narrowly losing their group to Samsung Ozone, Shield retain some question marks this season as they have yet to play a real high-tier team such as SK Telecom T1 K or KT Bullets. And while Xenics Storm can hardly be considered a top team, they are by no means weak, and may even be the most improved team of the season if they can keep up their pace. For Shield to weather the Storm, they will need to draw on their experience and push through with confidence against the wild, loose style of Xenics Storm, utilising their strong objective control as their main weapon.



It should be noted that NaJin White Shield’s line-up for the match has not yet been confirmed, with Seraph or Save taking the top lane, and Ggoong or Save taking the mid lane. For the purposes of this article, it will be assumed that Save and Ggoong will be playing top and mid, respectively.



Top Lane

GimGoon vs. Save/Seraph



Rookie matches up against veteran in the top lane, as Ragan's replacement GimGoon takes on previous mid laner Save. While both players are supplementary to their team's core strategy, both teams tend to struggle when their top laners fall behind. Thus, winning top lane is of utmost important for both teams here, and we should expect to see some strong lane picks that will transition into lategame powerhouses. In the current metagame of tanky, near-invincible top laners, this match-up will not be as volatile as it could be, though the influence of two aggressive carnivore junglers should serve to tilt the scales in one direction.



GimGoon has long been celebrated as an incredibly skilled solo queue top laner, comparable to the rising star MaRin. Although a toxic player in his high school days, GimGoon has cleaned up his act for the sake of his new team, after wandering in the amateur leagues for a while. He has cleaned up his play, too, transitioning from an aggressive style focused on dominating lane and snowballing the game with his advantage to whatever his team demands of him in any situation. With two Renekton games, three Rengar games and one game each on Dr. Mundo and Rumble, GimGoon's influence on the game stems not from his champion selections, but rather the timing of his rotations. Storm seem to treat GimGoon as a resource, a juggernaut that can be called from the top lane to assist his team.



Known for his AD play in the mid lane prior to switching to top, Save has retained his skillset, being more comfortable on damage-dealing champions rather than tanks. The diversity in his champion pool is clear, however, as he has chosen a different champion every single game out of Kha'Zix, Renekton, Rengar, Riven, Rumble, Shyvana and Tryndamere. His fondness of dealing damage is clear, as he has built damage items on the typically-tanky Renekton, Rengar and Shyvana, and even going for a full damage build on Rumble. Should he be allowed to play Kha’Zix, Storm may be signing themselves over to an early defeat, as Save is probably the best Kha’Zix player in Korea. While Shield utilise Save in rotations much like with Expession in the past, Save's contribution to his team lies in his ability to acquire solo kills on the map, creating an advantage for his team in terms of map pressure.



Should Seraph take the stage instead, Shield will have the element of surprise over Storm. With just one game on Shyvana, his skillset and champion pool at the competitive level are mostly a mystery to Storm. Seraph’s dominant performance over Homme despite playing a losing game was impressive, and his comfort on a tank such as Shyvana may play into his favour against GimGoon.



In this match-up, the focus will be on Save and how much space he is given to farm. If GimGoon plays correctly, he should be able to constantly pressure Save and not allow his gold to influence the game to a large degree. Yet, this will in turn mean that Storm will face Shield in a four-on-four situation, which is certainly not their strength. Out of all of the match-ups in this quarter-final, the top lane will probably be the least volatile, though if either player is able to break free of the other, it will likely lead to victory.



Jungle

Swift vs. NoFe



Two team-focused junglers, Swift and NoFe will be competing with each other to create an early advantage for their teams. Swift’s play around the mid lane has been crucial in executing Storm’s strategies, as empowering CoCo creates a third roaming threat on top of Piccaboo’s roaming support play and Swift’s ganks. NoFe, on the other hand, tends to become a threat by taking early kills from his lanes and building an item advantage over the opposing jungler in order to snowball the game.



Swift, a new addition to Xenics Storm, has shown great synergy with CoCo. Often found ganking the mid lane in a 2v1 scenario, Swift has been a solid playmaker for Storm, initiating fights and being the main force driving the team’s early rotations. For Swift, three impressive wins on Lee Sin on top of successful games on Elise and Shyvana have covered up two disappointing losses on Riven against the Jin Air Stealths and CJ Entus Frost. We may not see Riven again after Swift’s failure to have much impact on the game on the Exile, but this should not have any repercussions as Swift’s Lee Sin is a real, tangible threat.



NoFe has come into his own in Champions Winter with excellent play in the group stage that unfortunately fell short when he had to face off against Samsung Ozone’s DanDy. Junglers use their knowledge of the enemy jungler in two ways - either to countergank them and stop their efforts, or to capitalise on their absence and gank an unguarded lane. NoFe opts for the latter, using early wards to determine the enemy jungler’s location and applying pressure to a lane that cannot be responded to. His game on Olaf against Alienware Arena is a perfect example of this style of play, and as such, the Xenics lanes must watch out for NoFe, as he will attempt to evade Swift as much as possible.



It seems to be a rare occurrence for two junglers to not meet each other in the early game, but in the case of Swift and NoFe, it may well be that their interests will not coincide during the laning phase. Audiences should mostly expect a lack of counterganks or 2v2 jungle action, and look for both junglers capitalising on numbers advantages. There are no tricky factors here - the jungler that executes their strategy better will win.



Mid Lane

CoCo vs. Ggoong/Save



This season, we have seen the middle lane of Summoner’s Rift become the turning point for many games. Often, the mid laner that comes out ahead of his opponent will end up winning the game, and it is for this reason that so much attention is given to the lane by junglers (and now, supports). CoCo and Ggoong are both standard Korean mid laners - incredibly destructive when given the right support, and uninspiring when put behind. There is no doubt that this match-up will be influential over the result of the game, and with neither player having a distinct advantage over the other, it may be the most exciting match-up of the game.



CoCo has always been the star of Xenics Storm, with his fantastic positional awareness lending itself to his notable Orianna play. This season, however, he has opted for a wide range of champions, including two Nidalee picks, and single games on Gragas, Kassadin, Lucian, Orianna and Zed. While CoCo has yet to dominate a mid laner without the help of Swift, Korean mid laners consider mid lane to be 2v2, with the jungler’s influence being crucial in affecting the outcome of the lane. CoCo is certainly not a lane-dominant mid laner like Faker or Ryu, but certainly has carry potential on the same level as the rest of Korea’s top mid laners. His coordination with Swift and roam timing will be of utmost importance against Shield.



Ggoong, a former Brood War player, continues to impress in his transition into League of Legends. Three Kassadin games, two Gragas games and one Ryze game have displayed his competency on mage champions, though his tendency to have less game impact early may have been identified as a weakness by NaJin, as he was substituted out for Save, with Seraph filling in the top lane in the tiebreaker against Samsung Ozone.



Save is admittedly the more interesting mid laner here. His Kha’Zix, though likely to be permanently banned against him, is easily Shield’s strongest threat, especially when coming from the mid lane. Save’s history of playing mid should mean that he will be able to match up decently against CoCo, despite his Zed falling flat against Dade’s Kassadin.



Bottom Lane

Arrow and Piccaboo vs. Zefa and GorillA



Once again, the two bottom lanes in this match are strikingly similar to each other, despite the teams being vastly different in playstyle. Bot lanes are increasingly being relied on as their teams’ anchors, with special attention given to supports with the vision and gold changes of patch 3.14. With marksman champions being weaker than they have ever been, an additional emphasis on teamplay is created, and with Arrow and Zefa being team-oriented carries from the beginning, they may finally find themselves in their element.



Arrow and Piccaboo are one of the standout bottom lanes of the season, but not for their laning ability. Rather, it is due to the fact that they understand their roles perfectly during the laning phase. With Piccaboo’s tendency to gank mid lane on Arrow’s first Recall, Arrow finds himself against two opponents, yet still manages to farm safely. These players are worth talking about individually, due to their unorthodox nature - they are not a bot duo, they are two individual players that happen to lane bot together. Arrow’s incredible teamfighting ability and positional awareness means that he does not need to rely on Piccaboo to protect him, allowing the support to do what he does best - engage. Pioneering a new age of Talisman-rushing, roaming supports, Piccaboo’s three Thresh games have all resulted in victory, while his Annie and Alistar have been less successful, with one loss each (and one win for Alistar). Arrow’s champion selection accounts for Piccaboo’s roaming, with four Ezreal games and one Sivir game coming out. Arrow, however, is known for his Draven play, dominating in the sole game he was allowed to pick the Glorious Executioner.



Zefa and GorillA are similar to Arrow and Piccaboo at their core, with an AD carry specialising in teamfighting and a playmaking support. Zefa’s Caitlyn has been on a roll as usual, with two successful games. Yet, it would seem that Shield are not always comfortable with Zefa on his best champion, and he has picked up Ezreal and Lucian twice, with one Sivir game rounding out his revealed champion pool. GorillA’s Thresh has been absent this season, with two games each on Annie, Lulu and Sona, while Taric has been picked up once. If GorillA opts for an aggressive support, he may be able to combine forces with Zefa to shut down Arrow’s well-documented safe farming once Piccaboo leaves the lane.



Arrow and Zefa are likely to be equal in teamfight presence, which actually spells bad news for Shield, as GorillA may end up impacting the game less than Piccaboo. Piccaboo’s playbook is wide open for analysis at this point, however, and if there is anything that NaJin teams do well, it is prepare for their opponents. It will be up to the Shield bot lane to respond to Piccaboo’s play.



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