Alexich stop feed plox kthx.

 

Well Gambit tried their hardest to not make it - but thank god for Dade and Ozone not using Homme at all. That and a complete lack of damage. Bed time for us, watch the fallout of Group A in the morning and the RO8 draw too.

 

God that Vulcan game vs Gambit was just embarassing. 19 minute Barons were from like early Season 2. The buffs to Baron mean it is pretty darn hard to do a pre 25minute Baron.
And they still had OUTER TURRETS to take. Vulcan definitely deserved to be knocked out.

That Gambit vs Samsung Ozone game was freaky. That deja vu with Baron...

Anyways, I'm rooting for Gambit and C9. We'll see how well the Chinese teams do, but they'll probably be top 4 barring a quarterfinal match up.

 

TSM with the $15,000 Teemo pick.

 

I have been watching this event off and on all week and there is one thing that is confusing the hell out of me.

Zyra's stat line for the tournament: 29 picks, 5 bans, out of 41 games. 62% win rate.
Sona's stat line for comparison: 26 picks, 7 bans. 35% win rate.

Why in the name of all that is holy is Zyra not being banned, or at least given higher priority as a pick? 62% win rate is not an insignificant statistic when she is being picked in nearly 3/4 games.

What is going on here that I am not seeing?

 

Its possible the pros haven't picked up on it, but Zyra is skillshots and pros can dodge. There are more important bans.

 

Zyra is about disengage, while Sona is about engage, basically. Zyra can't deal with a poke comp as well as a Sona(or a Thresh, or an Annie, or a Leona) can, and doesn't bring as much to a pick comp or AoE comp as other supports because of her delayed and avoidable cc. But, when used against a dive comp, Zyra brings tons of disengage and plenty of damage. Sona is a universally decent pick, while Zyra is stronger but a bit more niche.

 

She's been first picked in a few games - admittedly though it's probably 3 out of 40 max. As has already been said, Zyra's disengage is insane and her ult? Just... That knock-up is more valuable than any stun because short of getting out of there or blowing a long CD such as Zhonya's, you simply cannot dodge it.

I reckon Zyra will be worthy of bans now we're hitting the RO8, especially against C9 - And I know, you can't 'ban out' C9 but I feel like Zyra is a better ban than others against C9.

I also feel like Zyra is just generally more useful - you can really lock someone down pre-6, even more so post-6, she can chase well despite her low base movement speed due to the range on her roots, she can zone people out with her ult if she can't land it on a group unlike Sona who if she airballs it does nothing. That and Zyra does damage, Sona does too but since the nerfs to her Q (and powerchord I think?) she doesn't seem to hit as hard as she used to.

 

Zyra isn't getting banned because Zed, Shen, Ahri, Corki, Fizz, Thresh, Elise, Lee Sin, Orianna and Caitlyn exist.

 

I keep seeing this justification, and I am not buying it. "There are better bans" is a weak argument at best. As several people pointed out, Zyra's niche is counter-initiation. Now look at what the top picks are. With the exception of Ezreal (and maybe Elise), every non-adc pick that has appeared more than 10 times is a hard initiator. Just go down the list. Jarvan, Aatrox, Shen, Ahri, Lee Sin...

Idk, maybe I am missing something here, but I am going to predict Zyra sees around 50% ban coverage through the elimination stages.

 

Are you serious? Please tell me you're joking.

So you feel that it is better to ban out the support rather than, say, the mid laner?
I don't know what you do in your games, but world-class professionals can't afford to make such retarded mistakes.


Εdit: I feel the need to clarify. While I understand that supports can be a big threat and make or break comps, there is a good reason why the bans are usually centered around mid/top/jungle.

 

Who to ban out really depends on the team you're against. A lot of the teams in the WC are very focused towards their solo laners. Hence the permabanned Zed and Shen. But against botlane focused teams banning out the support is a solud tactic and probably the reason CJ Frost aren't even there. 3 bans at Madlife has destroyed their main strategy.

 

If I were a pro (and this following statement will prove why I never will be) I would ban something like this;

Prominent EU team? Ban out 2 mid champions, potentially 3 or 1 top lane champion
Prominent NA team? Ban out 2 marksmen and one top laner. Maybe 3 marksmen.

Etc etc, each region has its own speciality almost and it's great. With that said, still Zyra is a low priority ban unless you're trying to bait out a particular support/champion such as SKTT1 against TSM with the Zed pick.

Tonight's 1st QF is too close to call for me, support both teams though admittedly C9 a little more because I think Soaz is a douche, but they're European so it seems daft not to cheer for them too.

 

BTW, a few of us are in #lol on the DLP irc server chatting up the match that's about to start between c9 and Fnatic.

 

I wish IRC showed me something other than a black screen.


Well played Fnatic. Go Europe!

 

Blah. Mobility Creep OP.

I remember when champs used to get NERFED for being too mobile.

(Read: Kassadin, Vayne, Eve)

 

What a game one. I can't remember ever seeing C9 lose team fights like that.

 

I really should get IRC, probably just feel out of place when compared to the core section of the DLP community. That and my complete incompetence with most tech things, even something as simple as IRC.

Not sure how Kassadin got through and C9 banned Ori instead of it, but, eh. Looks like they had a plan, it just fell apart. Fnatic's mobile comp countered C9's CC heavy mid-game teamfights perfectly. Was still a game of blow-for-blow and I'd love for a game 3.

Edit; Balls looking like MVP for game 2 thus far.

Edit 2; Game 3 was disgusting, my word.

 

Nice. So, are Fnatic and Gambit on different brackets? I dream of a European final!

Also, I'm really annoyed at the IRC client. I keep getting the outline of it, with the copyright at the end of the page but the rest of it black. Should I make a a thread on the site support or something?

 

Guess NA really is the weakest scene. C9 just got stoooomped.