Week 2 Alliance: Full control, A shining light for Europe

Amazing early game, great team CS @ 20, and even most enemy buffs stolen were just a few of the metrics we looked at when talking about Alliance this week. Their success in week one was palpable and everyone, including the casters, were ready to hype Alliance. Only this time, the “super team” stepped up and became just that: a super team. This week in EU LCS was all about Alliance and their dedication to the game. Their willingness to adapt and improve has definitely shown that they are in the conversation for one of the best teams in the world.

Yes, this week’s EU LCS was an all-Alliance affair as they rode their 3-1 win in super week to another 2-0 week over Millennium and SK respectively. However, the thing that made Alliance truly shine was more than just fantastic statistics; it was Alliance showing how seriously they are taking their new found success. Alliance are really changing and using their coaches and analysts to learn the game and improve their teamwork as a whole. Their team KDA did go down from 6.24 last week to, a still respectable, 4.47 this week but looking at the stats for these games really only gives half the story (as stats normally do). In Alliance’s first game against Millennium, it was agreed by everyone: casters, players, writers, and commentators alike, that this was one of the most flawless games we have ever seen by any team in the EU LCS. Alliance really began to look like their Korean counterparts whom everyone is trying to model.

In their first game against Millennium, it was arguable that Alliance’s bans were even a little too focused with a Fizz ban on top of Ziggs. This combined with Millennium bans of Kayle, Lulu, and Kassadin; it was arguable that Alliance really just let Millennium get what they wanted. Millennium took this and ran putting together a respectable team comp of: Trundle, Kha’Zix, LeBlanc, Kog’Maw and Nami. However, Alliance seemed poised and didn’t seem to need to rush any of their picks getting the standard “Pick & Push Comp” (sidebar: I hope this team comp begins to be known as Pick & Roll, get it? Roll, Rotate…a man can dream) of: Shyvana, Lee Sin, Nidalee, Lucian and Thresh. However, basically from minute 4 when the top laners rotated back down to their 2v1 lanes to counter the lane swap; Alliance got all 3 lanes pushing the exact way they wanted them and completely zoned Millennium out of any advantage they might have been able to get. Alliance then forced Millennium into spreading around the map to break the freeze and Alliance “just casually out-rotated” Millennium into an extreme early advantage. This amazing early game play was then capped off with a forced initiation in mid lane by Nyph that basically won Alliance the game at minute 7. Another highlight of this was the vastly improved play by Wickd who played his Shyvana beautifully and gained Alliance total map domination, the correct way, by pressuring where and when he should. Millennium then had no way to respond to the extremely decisive Alliance calls giving up dragons and any form of Baron pressure. Basically, the biggest thing we are starting to see is: HOW Alliance is playing similar to their Korean counterparts. Alliance showed that they understood HOW to play their team comp and WHAT their win condition was. They understood they needed to win by: freezing lanes early, transitioning into slow pushes in all three lanes, and getting a vision advantage for their team. All of these things along with good mechanical play set up Alliance to take fights when and where they want. Alliance played the cleanest game in the LCS any of us has ever seen in the last 2 seasons. They made a statement that showed that EU and NA are catching up with the Korean dominance, and that teams are starting to embrace the idea of understanding the game at a macro level. Alliance turned a new leaf in LCS; showing that there is more than one way to win a game of League of Legends.

In their second game of the week, Alliance flipped the switch and showed that: despite their superior understanding of macro strategy, they can still win a game through team fights and baron pressure. Despite this being a much messier (and very season 3-esq) game for Alliance, we were still able to see how their understanding and control over minion waves and map movements really propels their overall strategy. Alliance set up the game to win on their terms. Again, this game started with very meta-specific bans mostly focusing on the mid-lane champions and seemingly giving SK what they wanted with: Jax, Elise, Orianna, Twitch, and Leona. However, Alliance countered with their now tried-and-true “Pick and Push” comp of: Shyvana, Lee Sin, Lulu, Lucian, and Thresh (sound familiar?). Yes. Alliance used nearly the exact same comp and, again, rotated their way to victory. In fact, the only difference between this game and their previous game against Millennium; was that, in this game, they had to take a bit longer because they played a little too aggressive and gave up a few easy kills.

Alliance started their advantage very similarly rotating with Shyvana and gaining an overall map advantage. Despite the strait up lanes from both teams, Alliance kept to their strategy and executed the early game flawlessly. Alliance showed their prowess by forcing out 4 summoner spells in the first 2 minutes of the game. Alliance then used this advantage to give Tabzz an easy first blood and complete control over the very-volatile Twitch/Leona bottom lane. Tabzz and company then rotated cleanly into the mid game forcing Freddy to miss-use his teleport twice giving Wickd the overall movement advantage and secure multiple objectives. However, this is all thrown away in the mid-game as Alliance gives up 2 kills at the bottom tower without destroying said tower blowing their chance of securing a 25 minute inhibitor. Alliance then follows this up by losing a 3v5 Baron fight; blowing their chance of closing out the game in the 35 minute window as planned. However, despite the two lost fights, Alliance was able to keep their lanes pushed well enough that SK was unable to capitalize on their wins. Pushed lanes and bruised champions left SK looking for more than a few turrets and jungle control but they were left wanting. We can see this even further in looking at the gold gap between the two teams which had home to a halt at 3000 for nearly 10 minutes. This then gave Alliance time to regroup and reset their “4 and 1 split push”, constantly switching lanes and going back to their team comp’s strength of out-rotating SK. Alliance used  Shyvana as the focal point for the rotations, constantly switching the dragon between lanes and forcing SK to respond to the map movements. This then lead into a beautiful engagement in the bottom lane as Nyph, apparently being able to see stealth, blind-flays CandyPanda’s Twitch out of position, into a beautiful Shook Dragon’s Rage, and finally into the waiting jaws of Wickd’s Shyvana. This fight leads into a 3 to 0 victory for Alliance that ends the game.

In the post- game, the casters discussed the stark contrast between the two games. They pointed out how the Millennium game seemed to be a “season 4 game” using rotations and map positioning to gain an advantage and taking very few fights. In contrast, the SK game seemed to be a “season 3 game” with “gloves off brawls” taking team fights to gain map control. However it is quite easy to see the similarities between the two: In both games, Alliance used very similar team comps, and used this to gain a large early game advantage. Alliance controlled minion waves, and forced their opponents where Alliance wanted them to go on the map. In both games Alliance were able to take: turrets, dragon, and Baron without having to take a team fight or make any “big-flashy plays”.  They were also able to turn a small skirmish in one of the lanes into their final push that ended the game. This is exactly what the top Korean teams are able to coordinate and what plagued C9, Fnatic, and OMG at All-Stars, as they fell to SKT T1 K. These games really were a show of Alliance’s ability to control the game through vision and minion control and take each engagement on their terms. Teams are beginning to understand why Korean teams operate the way they do and how they come up with the definitive strategies that seem to go unnoticed by the rest of the world. In fact: look at the general strategies of Alliance’s game versus Millennium and SKT T1 K’s victories over Fnatic in All-Stars and you will see a striking amount of similarities. Both teams: took very few fights, used their top-lane champion as their focal point for rotations, and secured the map through vision and buff control. These fundamentals were something that had been lacking from LCS that is only going to raise their understanding of League of Legends.

These basic core ideas: understanding how to use your team comp, vision and buff control, and basic rotations are the hallmark of any good team. We will see this more and more as teams invest more in coaches, analysts, and a focus on overall macro strategy. This contrast from season 3 is showing us, as fans, what high-level strategy in League of Legends can become. The ability to focus on the strengths of one’s team comp and enhancing your team’s strength can be just as viable of an option as “counter picking” or capitalizing on your opponent’s weaknesses. These two games give us a small taste of the level of competitiveness EU and NA might be able to display on the World’s stage. These games show us how far strategy in League of Legends has come.  These games show us how we can improve our individual play in our solo-games. Remember: these games were not about flashy statistics and, they were not about inflated KDA numbers. These games were all about teamwork and understanding of the game. We can take these ideas and implement them for ourselves to help the community (as a whole) learn and improve.

In all, while Alliance really did show how far they’ve come in the past few weeks and their dominance over the EU LCS. We can look at their stats, we can look at their team comps, but the primary factor in their victories is simply their understanding of their team comp and their planned strategy. As we move further into the LCS, we will see more games where teams are picking up these strategies. Teams (right now!) are watching videos on how Alliance were able to do this and it will be very interesting to see which teams can find the small advantages that turn into the new “best strategy”. This, of course, will all culminate at Worlds where we will really, finally, get to see if the changes in NA and EU will be worth it. So far, Alliance is the one shining light in the EU LCS, and Alliance is just beginning to scratch the surface of their potential.