Sunday, January 22, 2012

IEM Kiev Day 4: SK vs. Dignitas

Here we are on the final day of IEM Kiev, up bright and early for the 3rd place match between SK and Dignitas. 4th place is never remembered in tournaments, so both these teams are vying both for money and pride.

SK was looking like the stronger of the two teams yesterday, with Dignitas' laning being completely shut down against TSM in both games. SK was at least able to have a respectable showing in the first game against M5.

I'll be updating this post with picks as we get closer to starting (in about 15 minutes), and we'll be live blogging the games all throughout the day.

Game 1 Picks

Dignitas                   SK
Lee Sin                   Sona
Tristana                  Morgana
Leona                     Caitlyn
Pantheon                Maokai
Jarvan                    Tryndamere

Update (3:00): Dignitas gets first blood already on Morgana as the Leona/Jarvan kill lane pays off. Nice start for Dignitas. A big question mark in this game is Dignitas' AP Tristana in mid.

Update (6:00): This is shaping up to be a really weird game. SK has 2 in mid and sent Ocelote's Morgana to 1v2 Jarvan and Leona bot.

Update (9:00): SK takes middle turret and has an 800 gold lead overall. Pretty close game between these 2 teams so far. SK gets a free dragon due to lack of vision by Dignitas.

Update (13:00): SK takes down two more turrets and wins a teamfight in middle 4 kills to 2. SK has now pulled out to a sizeable lead in this game.

Update (15:00): SK takes another teamfight 4 kills to none, kills another turret and is now pressuring Dignitas' mid base turret.

Update (16:30): Dignitas gets two kills and successfully transitions to take Baron, losing two of their own in the process. Still a net positive and a nice play to try and get back in this game.

Update (18:00): Dignitas gets Baron and cuts the gold deficit to 4k. Steadily getting back on this game, and they have the tanky, well-scaling team to do it.

Update (20:00): Leona and Jarvan just killed 3 SK champs by themselves. In the meantime, SK backdoors an inhibitor. Gold advantage almost nonexistant at this point.

Update (25:00): SK regains composure, winning a teamfight outside of Baron 3 kills to 1, proceeding to take the middle inhibitor of Dignitas'.

Game 2 Picks:

Dignitas                    SK
Graves                     Sona
Ryze                        Sivir
Maokai                    Morgana
Alistar                      Gangplank
Irelia                        Riven

Update (2:00): SK pulls off a perfect gank at Dignitas' wraiths, killing two for none and setting themselves up nicely for a lead at the start of the game.

Update (7:30): The teams trade successful ganks. SK out to a 1.5k gold lead, ground that could be easily made up with one teamfight or objective taken.

Update (11:30): SK takes bottom turret but loses two champions in the process, feeding Graves and Ryze. SK's gold advantage remains at 1.5k.

Update (14:30): SK wins a teamfight to prevent Dignitas from getting dragon, taking the fight 3 kills to 2. Overall kill count is at 7-7. Dignitas actually manages to get dragon after the fight, continuing to tighten this game up significantly.

Update (20:00): Dignitas wins a huge teamfight in middle 4 kills to 1, with some beautiful diving by Irelia cleaning up 2 kills after the fight. Dignitas proceeds to take mid turret and now has the advantage in this game.

Update (31:00): The teams are now effectively stalemating and farming in the middle of the map. I'd say this is to Dignitas' advantage, with champions that scale very well into the late game such as Irelia and Graves. This is already the closest game of the tournament by far.

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