CLG First Round Robin Analysis

CLG have had a rough start to the LCS 2022 Spring Split so I wanted to do this analysis identifying what they need to do to turn things around. While there is much to work on, I will discuss the fundamentals I recommend starting with. These are getting leads in the early game, objective setups, and decision-making around objectives.

Let’s start with getting leads in the early game. Some of CLG’s mistakes are coming from attempting to get leads in the early game. A good way to fix this is to teach them which plays to go for, which are coordinated and have a higher percentage of success. The good news is CLG are capable of making such plays.

In this example, they have a stacking bot wave, so Ryze fast pushes the mid wave and roams bot with his jungler to look to dive. The enemy top and mid laners also don’t have TP, making this play a lot less risky. They successfully dive bot, picking up 3 kills, denying 1.5 minion waves, and putting control of the game in their hands. CLG should work on utilizing big wave macro as one way to get leads in the early game. In other words, they should look to dive on stacking minion waves by using priority in other lanes to roam for the dive. These plays have a high percentage of success because they are coordinated and even if the dive is unsuccessful (the enemy backs off the tower), you still generate a gold lead by denying multiple minion waves and getting turret plating. G2 were very good at this during Worlds 2019.

Here, G2 are able to build the bot wave due to their winning matchup. Rek’Sai covers mid so that Ryze can push, and they roam bot to dive. Even though Corki TPs, this play still goes positive for G2 since they still have numbers advantage due to the enemy jungler being on the other side of the map. SSW even understood the importance of diving in taking control of games back in 2014.

Another way CLG can get leads in the early game is by setting up for and properly using first rift herald. I go over how to set up for first rift herald in a previous article. Here, I will discuss how to properly use first rift herald and show a missed opportunity where CLG could have done this in one of their games. A lot of teams miss out on the potential of a good rift herald usage by just dropping it in lane for plating gold. In order to use herald properly, you should use priority to roam and threaten a dive, allowing you to take 2 turret plates and drop herald for first tower. This way, not only do you get more gold, but you also gain control over the tempo of the game; you can then push out the wave in this lane and create numbers advantages around the map to snowball the game. Here is a missed opportunity where CLG could have done this:

Ori has just pushed the mid wave and can move bot to threaten the dive. Xin Zhao is also covering so bot lane can safely push the wave to set up the dive. Whether DIG’s bot lane stay and get dove or not, CLG can then take 2 plates and drop herald for first tower. If you still aren’t convinced, here is an example of T1 using rift herald:

Since T1 have already committed resources top side to get first rift herald, they threaten the top dive so they can take 2 plates and drop herald for first tower. It is important to note that they don’t base and cover bot, which would put them behind on tempo, but instead continue to play into the “up” tempo they have created.

Next, let’s talk about objective setups. Coming from a coaching background, I always say objective setups win games. I go over how to set up objectives in a previous article. In this one, I will show some examples of how CLG could improve their objective setups.

In this first example, top wave is in a pretty good spot, and Graves has just pushed the last bot wave he should be pushing before this dragon. The next step is for CLG to group as 5 for the next mid wave, which should be their mid wave since someone from FLY needs to respond to the bot wave, and control vision around this dragon. Graves instead gets collapsed on.

Here, Sivir bases too late and Camille potentially needs to skip fixing the top wave so that CLG can be grouped as 5 on time for the mid wave. Instead, C9 get mid prio and control over dragon. This puts CLG in a risky position to contest. CLG can also just give the dragon (it’s only the first for C9) since they don’t have setup, and trade for baron vision.

Finally, let’s take a look at CLG’s decision-making around objectives.

CLG are starting dragon because they have bot prio and mid wave is neutral. DIG contest and CLG lose the dragon. If CLG’s bot lane help finish the dragon, they probably finish it before the enemy team can contest. If they can’t finish it in time, they should turn for the fight when the enemy walks up. For example, when Karma walks up here and Yuumi hits her Q, Jhin can W and Xin Zhao can W->E off of it, and CLG would win the fight. Ori should also base and TP back to lane since she has no mana, and would need to match Corki if he moves to dragon.

In this example, CLG are correctly contesting the mid wave as 5 to set up for the objective. Since Tryndamere is showing on the bot wave, CLG should engage mid. They have just burned Corki flash in the previous play, so Contractz can flash E onto Corki, forcing his package (he should package behind his team), and then Yuumi can ulti to follow. He can also just flash E onto Jinx, forcing her flash, and use Yuumi ulti to follow. T1 often find windows like this to break open games.

T1 have just secured dragon (using mega gnar really well). DK go to push the mid wave and since T1 see Gwen move towards bot, they engage mid.

In the match against TSM, CLG make some weird decisions when contesting this herald. 2 members of CLG are hitting the herald while the other 3 are either looking to turn for the fight or are zoning the enemy jungler. CLG should be hitting the herald together, with Tahm Kench and Sylas potentially sitting in pixel brush and the brush below it, respectively. Then, they can look to turn for the fight together if TSM walk up.

Then, in the same game, CLG are starting baron without proper setup; Gnar has bot prio and is moving up, CLG don’t have mid prio, and their vision control around the objective is lacking. They should also be setting up for dragon since it is spawning in 55 seconds. CLG manage to kill Leona, but their following decision-making is questionable. First, they give up control of the mid wave (with numbers advantage), allowing the enemy to cash in on an objective bounty. Then, they start baron, which is risky since only the enemy support is dead.

CLG have shown their potential to get leads in the early game, and with some work, I believe they can do so consistently. If they can also get their objective setups and decision-making around objectives under control, they will be well on their way to closing out these games as well.