Anatomy of a Stomp: SHRC vs SSW G2
Everyone who follows League of Legends has heard some variation of the phrase "Grand Finals at Worlds will just be bad again this year." The implication being that the expected 3-0 between Samsung White and Star Horn Royal Club wouldn't be worth watching because the games won't be close.
Some of my favorite sets of League of Legends have been one-sided, including the fateful 3-0 between SK Telecom T1 and Royal Club Huang Zhu in the Grand Finals of the 2013 World Championship. SKT T1 had their strengths in constant pressure throughout the game, allowing them to cleanly close out a set against the bottom lane focused Royal Club.
This year, despite dropping a game, Samsung White appeared just as dominant in their winning games. When one takes a closer look at their second game against Star Horn Royal Club in the 2014 World Championship, it's easy to see that, even when SHRC had a slight gold lead, SSW was in command. Despite steamrolls in Game One and Game Four, this was perhaps their most masterful game of the series. Following SSW's execution allows spectators to identify exactly what it takes to win. In this regard, one-sided games are even more exciting than close matches.
Champion Select
SSW constructs a strong pick composition
SSW’s composition relies on a natural level six advantage
While another common LoL adage is that most games are won in champion select, this was not the case in this series—especially in Game Two. Both teams had intelligent compositions, making the game entirely about execution.
Throughout the series, SSW’s champion select was actually fairly predictable. On red side, they banned Rengar, Lee Sin, and Lucian in both games, and on blue side, they chose to ban Lucian, Lee Sin, and Maokai. They first picked Rengar in both blue side games, and chose to early pick their bottom lane champions (Twitch in all games but the fourth, Janna in both blue side games, and Thresh in both red side games). Most of these decisions were expected after following both teams throughout the tournament.
That only left solo lane picks as a mystery. In this set, SHRC adapted by selecting Jayce in their first rotation instead of leaving it open for PawN. When SHRC picked up four squishy champions, SSW constructed a composition reliant on splitting off targets with Janna and Rumble’s ultimates for assassination by Twitch, Rengar, and Talon. SHRC’s team became a poke composition, with a Dr. Mundo pickup to rush Spirit Visage and counter Rumble’s mid game strengths.
Each of SSW’s picks gain a strong power spike at level six, with their ultimates giving them a stronger boost than SHRC’s overall. For the most part, SHRC wants to force lane advantages with their carries and use a snowball to allow them to control the map and siege.
Pre Level 6
SSW’s smart wards helped anticipate the initial lane swap, but not the reversal
InSec lingering top gave Dandy a lead and SSW a chance to recalibrate
SSW fixated on picking up the lane swap in the early game to avoid facing Uzi and Zero’s Corki-Thresh combination before Twitch could farm up.
The execution of the lane swap went off well for SSW. At around 33 seconds in, DanDy placed his trinket warding totem in the river in full vision of inSec, who picked up the timer of the trinket. As a result, SHRC waited until after the trinket would expire to invade SSW’s blue buff. At around 1:12, however, Pawn placed his own trinket in the same location. When SHRC crossed the totem, SSW spotted Uzi and Zero on the top side and pinged the duo lane to head bottom.
In part, this worked in SSW’s favor, as they were able set up safety in the bottom lane for a support roam with heavy ward coverage, while SSW anticipated Zero’s gank attempts on the mid lane. The one instance when SSW failed to anticipate SHRC’s movements, however, came when SHRC swapped the lanes back.
At five minutes in, SHRC’s duo lane backed to pick up a long sword and a ruby crystal for Corki, then reversed the lanes. This would force SSW out of lane temporarily to avoid facing a stronger duo with an item advantage and give SHRC a temporary lead.
SHRC picked up another advantage in that SSW had invested a considerable amount of wards (two rotations of three sight wards) into the red side bottom jungle in hopes of pressuring the side of the map where they had a numbers advantage. Unable to make plays where SHRC had the lead, SSW lost their vision investment.
In this case, SHRC would choose to sacrifice Cola’s Dr. Mundo against a level three Rumble approaching an early Flamespitters power spike. SHRC sent inSec in to lane gank and reset the advantage. SSW anticipated the logical move, however, and stalled before Looper ultimately checked the brush with his Harpoons, wasting inSec’s time and allowing SSW to transition some of their vision into the top side.
Even despite the ensuing fight, this is where Dandy took control of the game. He used the time inSec wasted to pick up a small creep advantage. Meanwhile PawN transitioned SSW's vision coverage to the top side of the map. Even as Uzi and Zero won a trade down bottom, Pawn and Dandy pressured the top side of the map with more vision control and stole SHRC’s red buff.
The Bottom Lane Brawl
Looper’s use of overheat and Equalizer
PawN’s early roam and damage stacking
Looper picks up three kills
As soon as Dr. Mundo hit level six and picked up a negatron cloak, SSW lost their clear top side advantage. Cola and corn were both slightly ahead of Looper and Pawn in farm, so any topside 2v2s between junglers and solo laners would come out fairly even. SSW again refocused their attention. SSW waited until every member achieved level six to use their power spike before initiating a bottom lane fight.
Key itemization differences prior to the fight came from top and bottom lane for SHRC with a negatron cloak on Dr. Mundo to soak Rumble’s damage, and a completed phage for Uzi over a long sword and a vampiric scepter. Even inSec had two long swords to Dandy’s Razors. The key advantages for SSW were all in the power spikes of their ultimates and the fact that, despite being behind by 10 cs, PawN had stacked pure damage.
Dandy initiated the fight onto inSec, but Uzi’s turn with Valkyrie and inSec’s ultimate burn forced Dandy out of the fight and Mata to use both Flash and Exhaust early so that SHRC could collapse onto SSW’s bottom lane. Both of the top laners teleported down, but Looper waited until all three of SHRC’s squishy targets were lined up before using Equalizer, nearly nullifying Cola’s negatron cloak advantage.
After imp and Mata dropped, PawN’s appearance forced Uzi and Zero to split off from inSec, and Dandy and Looper killed him. Talon’s Shadow Assault allowed him to bypass Thresh’s The Box. His pure damage and Exhaust allowed the team to obliterate SHRC’s duo lane before corn showed up to take him out.
At this point, Cola and corn could have easily won the resulting 2v2 by splitting targets. Looper and Dandy had most of their damage dealing tools on cooldown. Corn failed to pin down Looper before his Flamespitters came off cooldown, however, and he turned around to use the spell to go into overheat. The spell combined with the extra AD allowed Looper to kill corn easily. He then cleaned up Cola after Dandy’s fall.
Despite item advantages going into SHRC’s favor and early misplays by Dandy, Looper and PawN played this fight nearly perfectly. Looper and Cola both picked up the lionshare of their team’s kills with three each, which put a timer on the game. SSW needed to win before Cola out-itemized.
The Snowball
SSW continued to identify their advantages
Pick composition execution
SSW traded the dragon to SHRC following the fight for lane advantages. With a massive creep wave for Looper top, he picked up farm and pushed the wave against Cola. SSW again identified their advantage and pressured top for a kill.
This decision gave SHRC’s bottom lane the opportunity to engage a 2v2 with vision of both PawN and Dandy top. Anticipating this reaction, Mata timed Monsoon after Uzi and Zero committed to split them and turn the fight.
With numbers advantages, SSW was able to secure all three outer turrets and SHRC’s blue buff. The execution of their composition relied on ultimates to get picks, and having survived past level six, they were able to take control.
Once imp picked up his Blade of the Ruined King, it was difficult for SHRC to find a way back into the game without SSW making significant mistakes. Their one matchup advantage in the bottom lane seemingly timed out with imp’s major buy. Despite Uzi’s Trinity Force, Twitch scaled better into the late game. With a disadvantage, SHRC could not siege properly and use poke damage, as SSW could still use their ultimates to get picks and dive—even despite SHRC’s wave clear.
Unfortunately for SHR, this is exactly how the rest of the game unfolded. At 18 minutes in, Looper was able to 1v3 dive corn, Zero, and Cola at around half health each and come away with a kill.
When Baron became relevant at around 20 minutes, SSW again transitioned their vision control to find picks on the top side of the map. With Equalizer and Monsoon to split off targets for assassination and stealths and sweepers to bypass SHRC’s wards, SSW’s opponents became easy targets for pickoffs that allowed them to avoid full-on 5v5s.
Dandy, PawN, and imp all picked up Youmuu’s Ghostblades before the game closed for more mobility and burst.
Takeaways
Despite claims that Game Two wasn’t as decisive for Samsung White as Game One, there was perhaps only a split second when they weren’t completely in control of the game. Even if Uzi and Zero forced their opponents out of lane twice and Cola and corn maintained small cs leads over their opponents, Dandy, PawN, and Mata kept a firm control of vision in the jungle. The team carved out advantages according to the window of relevancy for their composition.
The most important thing about SSW’s success, however, was in their execution. There were several opportunities for SHRC to win. Better vision post level six could have allowed SHRC to continue pressuring lanes. Dandy and the rest of the team always moved their vision to the side of the map where they perceived they had advantages, and SHRC failed to pressure the opposite end in turn. InSec was a non-factor for the entire series.
SSW’s dominance comes from constantly assessing where and when they’re strong. Going into the game, it was clear they had a level six advantage, and despite being slightly behind in their lanes and initiating poorly, they came out ahead in their level six fight. They then applied pressure where the advantage was the largest and continued to snowball from there.
Watching one-sided games is valuable because that’s when spectators learn what it actually takes to win. SSW’s identification and execution process is practically laid out in if-then statements. A lot of avid League of Legends fans watch competitive matches to see professional players perform at levels they themselves cannot reach. Despite making their way through the 2014 World Championship in a manner many would consider uneventful, all of Samsung White’s matches are absolutely a must-watch.
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