Expectations for Dignitas were low coming into the 2014 Season after their mediocre Summer Split and Battle of the Atlantic performances. Their initial 0-2 deficit in the first Super Week matches only appeared to confirm these expectations, but Dignitas quickly bounced back from their losses and began a winning streak that persisted through Week 2. The origin of this success is Dignitas’ AD carry, imaqtpie, who has risen to previously unseen heights in these first two weeks. The power he’s shown on Jinx, as well as his essential contributions to Dignitas’ overall strategies, are breathing new life into the veteran NA franchise.

With a combined score of 24/3/28 over four games, imaqtpie exemplified the term “hypercarry” on the Loose Cannon, despite his better-known predilection towards mid-game ADCs such as Graves and Ezreal. However, while traditional hypercarries (such as Vayne or Tristana) start slowly and only dominate in the late-game, imaqtpie utilized Jinx’s alternating strengths at every stage of the game, turning her into the most important Champion on the field for Dignitas. When on even footing and matched up against another duo lane, imaqtpie turned Jinx into a lane bully with the help of his support KiWiKiD. KiWiKiD has favored playing Thresh or Annie whenever possible, which brought early CC which imaqtpie’s Jinx could follow up with Flame Chompers and Zap!, allowing the pair to secure kills even in disadvantaged matchups. However, when behind, imaqtpie utilized those same abilities to stall until his strength reached its zenith, farming safely even when the rest of his team crumbled around him. This week’s game against XDG demonstrated his ability to do just that and allowed him to help his team turn the game into a victory after an atrocious early game.

Jinx also gave imaqtpie and the rest of Dignitas exactly what they needed in fast pushing strategies. Pow-pow’s attack speed makes her one of the best early turret killers in the game, and Dignitas capitalized on that strength in this week’s game against EG by taking the two top lane turrets before 5:00. Due to his new “everything is a turret to be taken” mindset, the imaqtpie of Season 4 has been a demolition master throughout the game as he constantly rotated between lanes to farm and take down structures. His Bloodthirster early itemization complimented this role, as they provide Jinx with flat AD with which to demolish turrets (made even more potent by the subsequent Static Shiv). Imaqtpie’s role has been essential with Dignitas’ revamped objective-based gameplay, which has yielded many turrets, Dragons, and even Barons throughout DIG’s 5-2 run in the LCS thus far.

Not only did Dignitas use their AD carry to maximum strategic benefit, Imaqtpie was mechanically on point as well, from his consistent and critical Zaps! to his game-defining snipes with Jinx’s Super Mega Death Rocket. Dignitas’ ADC made the most of Jinx’s Get Excited!! passive whenever it came up by establishing positions with his speed that few other Champions could imitate. However, even when Dignitas selected Draven in their game against CLG, imaqtpie’s mechanics remained spot on - He earned a score of 11/1/4 and proved that he’s not just a one-trick pony.

Perhaps the only flaw in imaqtpie’s early dominance on Jinx is the high-likelihood of respect bans in upcoming LCS weeks. However, while you can easily take Jinx out of the hands of imaqtpie, you can’t take the cutie out of Dignitas’ roster. It will be exciting to see if any other marksmen, particularly TSM’s ladder-topping WildTurtle, can take him down a peg face-to-face. If not, prepare for Dignitas domination in the LCS weeks to come.

“Let's Start at the Very Beginning”
CLG held a 17-14 LCS record against TSM heading into their match with most of those wins stemming from CLG's ability to abuse tower pressure and having the freedom to rotate for objectives. Søren "Bjergsen" Bjerg, the recently-signed 17-year-old Mid Laner, demonstrated strong synergy with the old TSM lineup and continued their aggressive playstyle for an outstanding score of 30/8/6.

TSM began shutting down CLG in champion select by specifically targeting HotshotGG. With HSGG's most comfortable champions out of the picture, TSM drafted a team composition focused on strong lane presence and “Push and Roam” tactics that could deal effectively with CLG’s objective-centric rotations. It was clear from the beginning that TSM would once again rely heavily on Bjergsen’s ability to dominate his lane early to snowball his team to victory.

The first inkling of TSM's strategy came into play 7 minutes into the match when Dyrus pushed to Nien’s tower and invaded into CLG's Red-side jungle. A warning ping on Dyrus drew Hotshot up into the jungle with no vision and into an ambush from TheOddOne. While they were ultimately unsuccessful in killing Hotshot, TSM expended 5 Summoner Spells and 3 Ultimates in their attempt, clearly demonstrating their hunger to shut down CLG's Mid laner.

The lack of Summoner Spells left HSGG vulnerable to even more jungle pressure and Bjergsen’s aggressive style of play. TheOddOne continued to visit mid and assisted Bjergsen in picking up First Blood, then a second kill minutes later. HotshotGG seemed uncomfortable with two of his favorite champions banned out, blowing both summoners in the second gank without changing the outcome. HotshotGG's constant lack of Summoner Spells left him vulnerable to even more jungle pressure and Bjergsen’s aggressive style of play. TheOddOne continued to visit Mid lane and assisted Bjergsen in picking up First Blood, then a second kill minutes later. HSGG seemed uncomfortable without familiar champions to play and on top of Bjergsen's pressure, blew both summoners in TSM's second mid gank without changing the outcome.

“I Simply Remember My Favorite Things...”
Around the 15 minute mark CLG had won Bot lane in CS, obtained a kill for Doublelift, and they had taken Dragon from TSM without too much hassle. However, since they got Bjergsen rolling meant that in the end, TSM didn't feel so bad.

With HSGG shut down, Bjergsen roamed with confidence while HSGG spent the majority of his time playing catch-up. Because all lanes were pushed, TSM members could share the duty of warding deep into CLG’s jungle and around objectives. They applied pressure on Link’s jungle and hindered his ability to help his lanes. CLG was forced to play conservatively for the majority of mid-game. Mid lane was a lost cause and to make matters worse, Link also inadvertently put himself behind due to an overly long 20 second period spent camping Bot lane's bushes. Ultimately, two members of CLG were not even factors, but the game dragged on.

“I Am Seventeen Going On Eighteen…”
Even after CLG took Dragon, TSM's 17 year-old prodigy could not be stopped, and much of the remainder of the game was Bjergsen taking care of his team by raining death upon CLG with his burst damage. An extended teamfight at 17 favored TSM again– Doublelift and Aphromoo got a 3 for 2 exchange, but Bjergsen had the last laugh as he roamed down to clean up Doublelift. The deciding point in the game was when Aphromoo's whiffed ult caused the fight over the second Dragon to spiral out of control for CLG as TSM picked up a 3-1 exchange and the Dragon. TSM grabbed the first Baron due to repeating their deep ward coverage and isolating HSGG from his team in fights, leaving CLG to look like a shell of their former selves.

“So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye”
Mercifully, TSM closed the game just after 38 minutes when they split CLG between defending their Nexus from super minions and protecting their last inhibitor. Bjergsen caught Hotshot out for the last time and obliterated him, leading to the final cleanup. WildTurtle and Bjergsen finished well above positive KDA and the entire team contributed to great plays throughout. TSM’s strategy of disarming HSGG paid dividends in this match, but with CLG looking to field their full roster instead of relying on a substitute in their upcoming matches, TSM will have new mountains to climb in future meetings.

Just two weeks into the League Championship Series, an astonishing diversity of champions has seen play in the European and North American leagues. Although the Pantheon and Mordekaiser picks in Europe were the first to make waves, the (mostly) European transplants Evil Geniuses brought a similar level of unorthodox drafting across the pond in their Week 2 game against XDG. As noted by Jatt, the draft pitted a standard, engage-heavy composition anchored by Sivir and Shyvana against an AP poke draft featuring Mundo and Urgot as a tanky front line. Soraka’s Infuse further enhanced the mana-hungry double AP comp’s siege power in addition to allowing Urgot to bully in lane unrestrained by mana concerns. Her heals combined with Nidalee’s gave the team incredible resilience, buying time in fights for the front line to do more work or for the carries to escape. While not crucial, Starcall served to shred MR for the solo laners, with Mundo also benefiting.

EG’s unorthodox poke composition had surprising engage strength thanks to the inclusion of Urgot. While Urgot’s tower taking ability is limited by his short autoattack range, his locked on Acid Hunters added yet another must-dodge bullet to the EG shooting gallery. The damage reduction on his passive, combined with Soraka’s armor buffs and Gragas’ damage reduction, gave EG a fighting chance in full engages thanks to their strength in long, drawn out wars in which their shred, damage reductions, and healing could ramp up and outlast XDG. With this teamfight potential in mind, Hyper-Kinetic Position Reverser could allow EG to instantly switch gears from poke to engage, picking winning fights at will with a sudden Reverser.

Urgot also stood to make some use of his ultimate during the laning phase. Swapping a pushed opponent has a good chance of a kill or at least forcing a return to base that can be translated into dragons and towers. However, Soraka was a poor assistant in executing this plan, as her complete lack of hard CC made it impossible to lock down a Sivir with On the Hunt and Thresh’s Dark Passage as escape tools. Going into the game, EG’s bot lane was the biggest liability on the team, and XDG had a fairly safe laning phase bot and a substantial window in the mid game to force engages onto a poke squad with a not yet tanky Urgot.

The most evident weakness of the draft was that Explosive Cask shouldered the full burden of disengage, limiting its use as a position breaker when attacking turrets. EG’s clear hope was that replacing a tower destroying AD carry and disengage capable support with Urgot and Soraka gave their draft the versatility to excel in extended fights in addition to enhancing their siege damage and sustain, but it was uncertain whether this novel strategy could be smoothly executed.

Execution and Analysis

Repeat visits to the bot lane by Mundo were largely foiled by Thresh’s utility and struggled to obtain kills even when XDG’s Flashes were down. This lack of success gave Zuna the freedom to focus on getting Shyvana ahead in the top lane. Although a series of critical misplays by XDG around mid resulted in Pobelter’s Gragas surging to a 4-0-1 score by the 18th minute, these were execution errors that should not detract from their exposing a critical flaw in EG’s comp - it is very difficult to secure kills in an Urgot/Soraka lane, which opens up the opportunity for the enemy jungler to focus on his solo lanes. Pobelter was simply able to outplay Mancloud and Zuna combined, but InnoX’s 1-3 KD at 20 minutes better indicates how badly the laning phase could have gone for EG’s solos.

Nidalee and Gragas both elected to build Grails. Further buffered by Soraka’s sustain, they were able to engage in extended sieges without letting up on skill usage. Krepo’s heals would also save lives at times, repeatedly baiting XDG into apparent kills that EG would then turn on to grow their advantage.

However, EG lacked reliable disengage, and nowhere was this more evident than in a 4-0 spanking XDG handed them at a mid game dragon fight. When Explosive Cask failed to reset the fight and force XDG away, they went On the Hunt and demolished EG, simply ignoring Snoopeh’s underfarmed jungle Mundo. While serious EG misplays such as general mispositioning and Krepo failing to use his Talisman of Ascension contributed to this disaster, the fact remains that having only one disengage skill is unnecessary brinksmanship in a poke squad. Simply adding more bulk (whether in items or heals) to the front lines only prolonged the inevitable loss when a fight was forced when out of position.

Though EG was eventually able to take the win on the back of Pobelter outplaying essentially all of XDG, their difficulty in closing the game despite coming out of laning phase with a 4-0 Gragas puts their strategy into question. Nidalee’s Javelins were of course a core part of the composition, and Mundo’s Infected Cleavers contributed substantial poke of their own in addition to nicely complementing Nidalee and Gragas by slowing targets. Pobelter’s embarrassing of Zuna and Mancloud was absolutely critical to EG’s eventual win, but Gragas was a sound pick for the comp even had he not gotten fed enough to one combo Thresh. That the three member core of EG’s poke comp was able to carry a Bot lane that did not live up to its strategic promise is a resounding endorsement of the effectiveness of poke (and how good Pobelter can be when he’s on his game), but EG may want to reconsider its drafting.

If EG insists on investing in a tanky front line, a simple shuffle of their solo lanes and jungler could give a top Mundo the farm he needs to be a more relevant tank while maintaining Nidalee and Gragas’ respective strengths of poke damage and disengage. A more mobile or siege capable AD carry such as Caitlyn, Lucian, or Jinx would be better than Urgot at taking towers, and Soraka could be traded for any champion with poke or disengage, such as Karma, Nami, or Sona. XDG was able to corner EG into fighting just by having Thresh Flash and Flay (DoA’s next band name), and having a secondary disengage to Explosive Cask, like Nami’s Tidal Wave, would almost certainly have lessened the loss. Despite the powerful potential teamfight synergy of EG’s comp, it is very dependent on ideal execution compared to a simple poke and disengage draft. Trundle's ability to stop engages cold with Pillar of Ice also merits consideration as a replacement to Mundo in either the top lane or jungle.

While Sivir is a huge threat to a poke team, the enemy draft could have gone far worse for EG. Vi, Kassadin, and Annie (champions with long range initiation or flank and chase potential) are all common picks that a more prepared team could bring to bear against EG’s next attempt at this strategy. EG showed they were aware of the danger by banning Kassadin, Leblanc, and Olaf, but three bans are not enough to cover all of the potential counterpicks. This is not to say that poke is not viable. This game, however flawed, showed otherwise, but improved drafting and execution in order to manage the inevitable counters is in order before EG can bring poke to preeminence in Season 4.

As alluded to earlier, Week 3 will be critical for XDG. They face off against TSM and CLG and going 0-2 yet again would be catastrophic not only for team morale, but they would also dig themselves quite the hole in the standings. Dignitas has the week off so we must wait and see if the off-week practice and preparation will allow them to continue dominance in further weeks. Arguably the most important match for the week is the second meeting of TSM and Cloud 9. These two teams look like they will be battling it out for the 1st and 2nd spot in the regular season, so their head-to-head match ups are going to be paramount in deciding who ends on top. It's still early in the season, but these matches in Week 3 will give insight to the balance of power among the teams the rest of the season.