EG vs TL LCS 2022 Spring Playoffs Analysis (Part 1)
Hey everyone. This will be the first article in a series of articles analyzing the match between EG and TL in the LCS 2022 Spring Playoffs. In this one, I will go over game 1 from draft to gameplay in detail. Let’s get to it.
Starting with draft, EG ban Volibear since it has risen in priority and would be a potential answer to Lee Sin (which they want to first pick). They ban TF because it is a strong pick in pro play due to its’ ability to influence the map, and Viktor as a target ban towards Bjergsen (he prioritizes this pick highly throughout the series). TL ban Zeri and Nautilus because they are high priority picks, and LeBlanc since they want to play Ahri and she is a potential answer. Both teams’ first picks (Lee Sin and then Jinx and Ahri) are easily explained as they are high priority picks in the meta. EG then pick Xayah since she has risen in priority and will get push into Jinx. They pick Akali as their answer to Ahri, which I don’t like because Ahri gets priority in that lane. Some better options would have been Vex or Veigar. The final pick of phase 1 is Tahm Kench since it is good with Jinx and even better here into Akali.
In phase 2, TL ban Rakan since it is not easily locked down by and will outscale TK, and EG have picked Xayah, and Leona since it is a strong pick that will provide engage. EG ban GP, which is a little weird since they are picking Gnar (traditionally a counter-pick to GP), and Graves since he would get priority over Gnar. Then, TL pick Viego since he is a high priority jungler and they want to save counter-pick for top. EG pick Yuumi since it is good with Akali and should out-pressure TK in lane, and Gnar since it is a good blind pick. Finally, TL pick Ornn; even though it loses lane to Gnar, it rounds out their teamfight comp and provides additional engage.
Let’s move on to gameplay.
Here, TL’s bot lane are able to sneak into the bush, and when EG’s bot lane walk up to get xp, they engage, forcing Xayah’s flash and Yuumi’s exhaust. EG could have warded the bot lane brush lvl 1, and with this information, they could have approached the wave from river. This has a cascading effect. Since Xayah now doesn’t have flash, she has to play much safer, preventing EG from being able to get push in a lane where they should be able to. At around 6:00, even though Lee Sin is covering as EG’s bot lane attempts to reset the wave, Xayah still dies in the 3v3 since they are down summs.
Around 8:00, Gnar all-ins Ornn and ends up dying to a gank. EG should know that Viego is top side since they just saw him on red, and with a ward on raptors, they should infer that he is still top side since they haven’t been cleared yet.
EG then get rift herald since Viego bases on a ward and dragon when he shows top side.
Then, EG use rift herald top, and TL get 3 plates bot and further increase Jinx’s cs lead in trade. EG should instead look to use herald bot since TL’s bot lane is part of their win condition; Ornn would get less value in a potential trade and would likely not be able to secure as many plates.
Around 14:30, EG look for a top play with their bot lane lane swapping and their top laner sticking around. This play has a low chance of success, and they end up losing first tower bot for it. Not only does this have gold implications, but this will allow TL to control tempo to snowball the game. This tempo actually allows TL to secure the next rift herald.
Approximately 20 minutes into the game, Gnar gets collapsed on in a side lane, and TL are able to take bot lane inner turret off of this. With TL’s bot lane missing, without knowing where the enemy jungler is, and with his jungler being top side, Gnar does not have enough vision to be pushing this wave safely.
At 21:21, EG are incorrectly contesting vision around dragon and Lee Sin has to burn flash. This could have been much worse. Lee Sin could have died, leading to a potential TL baron. This vision contest is incorrect because there is no one on TL showing in side lanes, EG don’t have mid priority, and they are face-checking river. I have written an in depth guide on how to correctly set up objectives. In any case, EG shouldn’t be contesting this dragon in the first place since they are behind, and should be trading for baron vision and potentially top lane inner turret.
Then, Akali dies side lane while EG are trading dragon for top lane inner. This reduces the amount by which EG are able to close the gold gap in a situation where Akali doesn’t have to die. She can just start running after TL get mid prio.
Finally, at 23:23, EG take a losing fight. They shouldn’t fight here since baron is already gone and they are down gold in an even-numbers situation.
EG should really consider warding lane brush lvl 1. In this game, this has a huge effect on their ability to play to their early win conditions to get leads in a game where it is important they get early leads. They should also think about where they are using rift herald, and how to use it properly (I discuss this in a previous article). This is important because it will help them get leads, which is again even more important this game, and possibly avoid bad objective trades. EG should consider whether or not they should be contesting an objective, and if not, what they should be doing instead. They should work on their objective setups for objectives they should be contesting. Finally, EG should work on avoiding unnecessary deaths in the early game and in the mid-late game. They should think about where the enemy jungler is and pay attention to enemy-favored lane states.
