Philippines at LoL World Championship this October!
The League of Legends Season 3 World Championships is the grandest stage of them all. Held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, USA, the best-of-the-best teams in the world shalll compete for the grand prize of 1 million USD. Among the teams that shall participate in the said event, our country shall be well-represented for a shot at the grand prize prize, and title of being the best League of Legends team in the world. Right after winning the South East Asian regional qualifiers last week-end, Mineski.LoL rightfully earned their slot to compete in the S3 Worlds.
However, the road to the championships wasn't easy for Team Mineski, as after beating the Vietnamese team X-Game, they were sent to the loser's bracket by the Singapore Sentinels. From there, they fought their way back to the finals by beating the Bangkok Titans, Kuala Lumpur Hunters and Saigon Jokers to earn a rematch against the Singapore Sentinels, who beat all of their competition in the winner's bracket on their way to the finals. Despite the Singapore Sentinels having a twice to beat advantage, Team Mineski showcased amazing heart and fighting spirit by winning two games in a row to secure their slot to compete in Staples Center. Here's a detailed recap of what happened during the historic finals match between the two respected teams:
FINALS GAME RECAP:
*Singapore Sentinels got a +1 advantage as they're the winner's bracket finalist
GAME 1:
Singapore Sentinels
Bans Shen Shen Zed Malphite
Picks Zyra Udyr Lissandra Twitch Renekton
Mineski.LoL.Razer
Bans Zac Rumble Varus
Picks Jarvan IV Lee Sin Sona Ezreal Ryze
DRAFT ANALYSIS
Banning Phase:
SGS banning Shen out limits Mineski's split pushing capabilities since Shen is a very effective split pusher who can also come to aid his team while protecting a member from anywhere on the map. Banning out Malphite and Zed means that SGS is limiting Mineski's options of champions who can engage them hard and assassinate their carries.
Mineski banned Zac who is a tanky champion that provides good crowd control, disruption and long range initiation. Their following bans were also aimed at limiting SGS' options for crowd control as Rumble and Varus are two champions who provide that while also being good at zoning out and bullying their lane opponents.
Picking Phase:
SGS' team composition revolves around protecting Twitch who is a powerful late game AD carry who can attack and possibly hit multiple enemies from afar with his ultimate Spray and Pray. To achieve this goal of protecting Twitch, their other picks feature Area of Effect crowd control in Zyra and Lissandra along with tanky champions like Renekton and Udyr who can dive Mineski's carries and zone them out.
Mineski on the other hand decided to use a team composition that focuses on hard initiation and controlling team fights as Jarvan IV and Sona can initiate team fights with Area of Effect crowd control while Lee Sin is also capable of diving into the enemy lines and displace them. Their line up also scales good into the late game as Ryze has the potential to scale into a tanky mage that deals tons of damage while Ezreal is one of the most mobile AD carries that pokes down the enemy team.
GAME ANALYSIS
The game features Mineski backed into a corner as a loss here would mean SGS gets the slot to represent SEA in the World Championships because of their twice to beat advantage.
It started out with both teams invading the other's red buffs, after which both teams played extremely well as they kept trading kills back and forth in a very intense showdown. While SGS had pushed down more turrets early on, Mineski held on with superior control of the Dragon objective to make sure that they didn't trail too far behind.
Mineski's gold lead started to increase when they also started to push down turrets. As Mineski was pushing the middle lane, they were able to score an ace on SGS and push their middle lane, taking down SGS' middle inhibitor.
After picking off a member of SGS, Mineski was able to secure the Baron Buff. SGS wouldn't go down so easily however as they were able to successfully fend off a push by Mineski to stay in the fight.
Another successful team fight by Mineski had them push down two inhibitors and secure another Baron Buff, win another team fight after pushing down SGS' last inhibitor and secure the victory.
Link to SEA Regional Qualifiers Finals Game 1 VOD:
Score: Mineski.LoL.Razer 1 : 1 Singapore Sentinels
GAME 2:
Singapore Sentinels
Bans Shen Shen Zed Zac
Picks Zyra Jarvan IV Orianna Caitlyn Akali
Mineski.LoL.Razer
Bans Varus Rumble Lissandra
Picks Karthus Lee Sin Sona Ezreal Nasus
DRAFT ANALYSIS
Banning Phase:
Mineski's bans weren't that much different from the first game as they banned Varus and Rumble again to limit SGS' options for crowd control and lane dominant champions. The only variation this time has them banning out Lissandra as she provides good Area of Effect crowd control while being a good option for poking and kiting.
As with Mineski, SGS still banned out Shen and Zed to once again limit the split pushing and assassination options of Mineski. They used their last ban to take out Zac as he is a formidable pick as a tank and initiator that excels at long range initiation and disruption while also providing good crowd control with slows and knock ups.
Picking Phase:
Mineski once again picked Lee Sin and Ezreal who are both very mobile champions with Lee Sin being a champion that can easily dive into, and displace the enemy team. Ezreal on the other hand is a carry who is good at poking down the enemy team while being hard to catch because of his mobility. They also retained Sona who is a good all around support. Their other picks are Nasus, a bruiser that can shut down auto attack dependent carries and quickly take down objectives, and Karthus, an AP carry who deals plenty of Area of Effect Damage and is capable of assisting his team with his global ranged nuke.
SGS' team composition features clash-based champions who excel in Area of Effect crowd control and damage in Zyra, Jarvan IV and Orianna. The rest of their line up features Caitlyn and Akali. Caitlyn is an AD carry who is good at poking down and bullying her lane opponents with her long attack range while Akali is an AP assassin who is good at diving into and quickly bursting down squishy champions.
GAME ANALYSIS
This game, being the deciding game, would definitely be more intense than the first as whoever wins this one secures the slot to compete with the best of the world in the World Championships in Staples Center, Los Angeles.
Mineski got off to an early lead this game through the dominance of their bottom and top lanes but SGS was able to get a lead over them by scoring two kills on Mineski's bottom lane and taking the first dragon of the game.
After securing a kill on SGS in the top lane, both teams traded taking down turrets with Mineski getting even by picking off a member of SGS in the bottom lane.
Well played clashes by Mineski helped then helped them take the lead over SGS and even secure the Baron Buff. From there, Mineski pressed their advantage and pushed themselves into SGS' base, taking down their middle inhibitor.
SGS would continue to fight back, as they clashed and nearly aced Mineski leaving only Mski.Exo alive. Being the only member of Mineski alive, Exo displayed great skill in a duel against SGS' star AD carry, Chawy.
From there, Mineski would secure another Baron Buff and just power their way to victory, earning the right to compete at the World Championships.
Score: Mineski.LoL.Razer 2 : 1 Singapore Sentinels
Link to SEA Regional Qualifiers Finals Game 2 VOD:
1. Part 1
2. Part 2
Source :http://www.mineski.net/news/2269-philippines-at-lol-world-championship-this-october
