FlyQuest Lock In Analysis

Hey everyone. I decided to do my first analysis of LCS 2022 on FlyQuest’s performance in the lock in tournament. I will focus on the main takeaways from a coaching perspective and what FLY should be working on going into the spring split. These are first rift herald setups, general objective setups, and trading objectives.

Let’s start with first rift herald setups because while FLY managed to get it in some of their games, it was usually as a trade or because the enemy team missed their opportunity. There was one game where they lane swapped for first herald, which is good, but I want to note that if the opposing team had set up on time, FLY wouldn’t have gotten it that game. I have written an in depth guide on why first herald setup is so important and how to set it up. In this article, I’d like to look at some opportunities where FLY could have set up for first herald.

In this example, top wave is neutral, FLY have mid prio, and bot lane has tempo. FLY should walk in to top river to get vision control around rift herald, start herald, and look to turn for the fight if TSM contest.

Here, FLY’s wave is pushing away from them. Their jungler just based from bot side but instead should come bot to help them crash this wave so it doesn’t get frozen against them (FLY’s bot lane actually get zoned off of some minions due to this and TL’s winning bot matchup). This is also a great opportunity for FLY’s bot lane to get tempo; they can base after crashing the wave and move towards rift herald.

In this last example, FLY can start slow pushing and crash on the next wave to reset for herald. Learning to set up for first herald would be a good way for FLY to start working on getting leads in the early game and putting control of the game in their hands.

Next, let’s talk objective setups. Again, I have written an in depth guide for this so here I will discuss why it is important FLY work on their objective setups and show some examples of where their objective setups could have been a lot better.

In this first example, since FLY are late to contesting the mid wave as 5, TSM get mid prio. This makes it so FLY are unable to play from vision control of river where they can look for picks with Syndra E and Thresh Q, or just rush dragon. They instead get split since someone has to respond to the mid wave, and it is this positioning that allows TSM to win the fight. While Syndra wants to play behind her frontline of Xin Zhao with R available, Thresh, and Gragas, her only frontline ends up being Gragas who uses his E and R to engage so he doesn’t have any more ways to peel for Syndra. This allows Lee Sin to find a pick on Syndra, and TSM to win the fight. FLY should have had Syndra TP to the bot wave so she could be mid on time, and they should have had their jungler and bot laner either skip doing red buff or do it earlier so they could be mid on time.

Here, again, FLY are late contesting the mid wave as 5 and GG get setup. FLY end up incorrectly contesting river by walking through their jungle, and since GG have vision control, Zoe and Ezreal land big poke that also results in a kill. This is important because in a game where FLY are in control, they lose dragon and start throwing the game. Luckily for them, GG then make a bad baron call.

Finally, in the same game, FLY are again not set up for the objective. This situation was a little different. First of all, FLY chose to push top and mid with baron when they should have been pushing mid and bot so they could control vision around dragon which was spawning soon. Then, they messed up their push by not syncing their waves so they got chunked out and had to reset too late to set up for dragon. If they had done things right, they could have gone back to dragon after their push. It might have only been a cloud soul this game, but due to their lack of objective setups, FLY are potentially giving their opponents a win condition in a game where they are in control. They are also increasing the chance of throwing the game since they are having to play in to enemy vision control.

Let’s finish up with trading objectives. Trading objectives is important in an even game to keep the game even, and important in a game where you are behind so that you can potentially close the gold gap or at least get some gold in your pockets to reach item spikes. I’d like to start by showing an example of a team trading objectives.

In this example, dragon is spawning in 30 seconds and G2 are behind in this game. SKT also already have vision control around dragon. You should decide whether or not you are looking to trade objectives at about the same time you would normally start setting up for the objective. This gives you time to set up the trade. You can determine how far behind you are, so you can make this decision, by looking at obvious indicators like kills and towers, but also by looking at cs and items. G2 decide to give the dragon, and start setting up the trade. Usually, you would have one player in each lane surrounding the objective you are giving to catch waves. In this example, G2 find an opportunity to get mid push, Kled catches the bot wave, and then the mid wave while his team moves top side. Your jungler and support should cover while your other laner pushes in the lane where you are looking to trade. Here, G2 get to send 4 top to trade for outer turret, inner turret, minions, and a kill. This actually ends up evening out the gold.

Let’s look at some examples where FLY could have traded objectives.

In this first example, Lee Sin has just made a bot play, and it is good that FLY are looking for a trade play mid, but they do not execute it correctly. They should wait to drop the rift herald, and after getting the initial kill on Nautilus, they should push the next wave, threaten the dive, and get the tower in range for rift herald to kill it before dropping. It is important to get the maximum out of the trade, and since C9 are able to take bot outer, FLY need to kill the tower to not only even out the gold, but also to make sure C9 don’t get a tempo advantage. Since C9 get bot tower and FLY don’t get mid, C9 can now create tempo by pushing out the bot wave first, and start snowballing the game.

In this next example, I have circled some indicators that FLY can use to determine how far behind they are. Here, they should be looking to trade objectives. Not only do they not do anything towards getting back into this game, but they also contest dragon into C9’s setup and gold lead, extending the lead for C9. I think I understand where teams are coming from when they do this. Usually when you are behind in a game, it is correct to control vision in your top side jungle so that you can check baron. This can enable you to stall out a game or potentially find a way back into the game if the enemy team makes a bad baron call or contests vision incorrectly. This works because baron takes longer and is riskier to do than dragon, so defending teams have time to contest baron and teams are less likely to start baron without good vision control of the enemy jungle. In the case of dragon, the enemy team will just do it, and you will have wasted time. Dragon (and rift herald) also gives defending teams a good opportunity to trade objectives since early dragons are not so important.

Here are another two examples where FLY should be looking to trade objectives from behind:

In the second example, FLY can look to trade for top lane inner (like G2 did in the trading objectives setup example), and for vision around baron. Getting vision around baron will not only help stall the game, but could lead to a mistake from TL in retaking this vision.

I want to mention that I thought FLY did a pretty good job with their macro when they did manage to get a lead in their games. Going into the spring split, these are the fundamentals I would recommend working on. Learning to set up for first herald is a good way for FLY to start taking control of their games, improving their objective setups will increase their ability to close out games and even find a way into games, and learning to trade objectives from behind will give them a way to get back into games where they fall behind.