During Season 3, we had the opportunity to witness a huge meta shift in how the game was played compared to Season 2. Instead of waiting 40 minutes for teamfights to erupt and have AD carries blow up tanks in 3-4 crits, we saw an evolution of strategies come out from all regions of the world whether it be the Chinese freight train or double AD fast pushing compositions. For the next couple of days, some of the analysts here at Cloth5 will be choosing and discussing some of our favorite games of Season 3 as it officially comes to a close. So while you’re out there trying to grind your way in solo queue for tier rewards, take a break and breathe in the nostalgia. Have fun!
Today’s picks come from resident analyst Heliosan who spent most of the season watching the Chinese LPL and Korea’s OGN Champions.

Chinese LPL Spring Semifinals Game 3 – (OMG vs World Elite)

This was one of the most epic games that I have ever seen in the Chinese regular season. Both OMG and World Elite were desperately fighting to win the semifinals in order to advance into the Grand Finals and it was such a back and forth game between both teams.

Highlight Play

Skip to the 46 minute mark.

In the very late stage of the game, OMG and World Elite do the Baron dance. As World Elite positions themselves between OMG and Baron Nashor, OMG immediately moved to push middle lane towards World Elite’s open inhibitor. World Elite instantly moved away from Baron into the top tri-brush and all began to recall to base to defend. When OMG saw this, they instantly turned tail and headed for Baron Nashor. CaoMei saw OMG move back towards Baron and cancelled his recall, however the rest of the World Elite had already recalled back to base effectively duped. OMG starts taking Baron. CaoMei tried to stop them on his Kennen and activated his Zhonya’s Hourglass while casting Slicing Maelstrom in the middle of the OMG squad, however OMG quickly finished him after the hourglass timed out.

And like lemmings following each other to the point of going off the cliff, one by one the rest of the World Elite members entered the Baron pit in a desperate attempt to stop the Baron to no avail leading to a perfect ace for OMG who stopped doing Baron and then just pushed middle lane to win the game, the semifinals series, knock World Elite to the 3rd place match, and advance to the Spring Grand Finals.

Final Thoughts

I always knew OMG was a really strong team in China with their revolutionary style of hyper-aggression which was a huge contrast to the meta that was established by the more reserved World Elite, but this game showed how strong OMG is in terms of coordination and decision-making. Much like the KT Rolster Bullets from Korea, OMG showed that they too are masters of outwitting their opponents especially around Baron Nashor, the so-called noob magnet.

OGN Champions Spring Playoffs – Group Stage Game 1 – CJ Entus Blaze vs Najin Sword

Setting the Stage

This game was absolutely incredible when these two powerhouse Korean teams clashed to determine playoff seeding for the OGN Spring bracket stage. Both teams brought out very different team compositions to this game and the level of play that both teams exhibited with their team compositions make this game a game to be remembered in the OGN Spring group stage.

Team Picks

Sword oriented their team composition around picking off the Blaze members by laying down AOE spells with Hecarim’s Onslaught of Shadows and Kennen’s Slicing Maelstrom to allow for Karthus and Vayne to get kills earlier than normal. This strategy was very similar to OMG’s strategy in China by using multiple ultimates to get kills forcing their opponents to react to their dictations around the map and stop Blaze from pushing as effectively buying time for Karthus and Vayne to scale up. In the later stages of the game, Sword’s hyper carries would annihilate Blaze in teamfights if Blaze lets Sword hit critical mass.

In contrast, Blaze picked a poke and disengage composition along with Flame split pushing on that Diana with Teleport. Blaze was looking for Flame to split push a side lane while the other four members get objectives on other parts of the map and if a fight were to erupt, they can choose to disengage or call Flame to teleport in and start a fight with Diana to use Lunar Rush into the Sword lineup for a Moonfall to group everyone together into Lulu’s Wild Growth allowing for AOE counter-disruption and for the rest of Blaze to get into the fight while Varus and Jayce bursted down key targets to eliminate Sword and quickly push towers.

Final thoughts

Sword was able to get SSONG’s Karthus extremely fed from early kills to the point that at 27 minutes, Karthus had Rod of Ages, Seraph’s Embrace, and Zhonya’s Hourglass which is absolutely terrifying. Despite SSONG being an absolute terror on that Karthus, Blaze was able to win the game because Flame and Lustboy were able to land the Diana + Lulu combo multiple times to disrupt Sword’s engage and backline allowing for the rest of Blaze to engage the CC’d Sword members and take down the priority targets allowing for a huge turnaround for Blaze despite losing so hard in the early game.

I hope you enjoyed my picks for some of the favorite games of the year. In my eyes, LPL and OGN consistently brought some of the more entertaining games of the year compared to the rest of the world. If you want to read some of my thoughts on the League of Legends scene during the earlier part of the year, be sure to check out my Tumblr here! Have a good one.