Azubu Blaze split the series 1-1 with MVP White

Azubu Blaze vs. MVP White

In the fifth match of the OGN Winter Season Interleague week, we have Azubu Blaze and MVP White, two of the top contenders in the group stage. In Game one, Azubu Blaze took an early lead and ran away with it to victory. However, in game two, the roles were reversed and Blaze was unable to respond to White's aggression, tieing the series.

Game 1

Blaze

Bans: Cho' Gath, Olaf, Rengar

Picks

• Corki - Cpt Jack (adc)
• Mundo - Helios (jungle)
• Evelynn - Ambition (mid)
• Nunu - Lustboy (support)
• Jax - Flame (top)

White

Bans: Lee Sin, Diana, Twisted Fate

Picks

• Irelia - Homme (top)
• Zyra - ming9 (support)
• Vladimir - Mima (mid)
• Sivir - imp (adc)
• Darius - DanDy (jungle)

For game one, Blaze decided to employ a lane switch between top and bottom lanes in order to execute their favorite tower pushing strategy. A nice gank from DanDy helped Homme secure first blood, however, excellent counter ganking from Helios and Ambition gave Blaze two kills in return. A few minutes later, this event would repeat itself once again, deterring White from further ganks in the top lane. Blaze and White continued to trade blows with Blaze usually winning exchanges. This gave Blaze more lane pressure, allowing them to take towers. Despite this lead, White was still able to apply some resistance, unfortunate, it only slowed the process, and didn't stop it. Eventually, a bad engage allowed Blaze to break into White's base, taking an inhibitor. Being wary of counterattack, Blaze backed off, allowing White a moment of reprieve. With this lead, Baron seemed like the obvious next step.  White, knowing this, moved to intercept. Unfortunately, White was unable to prevent Blaze from taking baron, and fell victim in the ensuing team fight, giving up the ace and bringing out the surrender.

Game 2

Blaze

Bans: Rengar, Olaf, Cho'Gath

Picks

• Ezreal - Cpt Jack (adc)
• Vladimir - Flame (top)
• Blitzcrank - Lustboy (support)
• Amumu - Helios (jungle)
• Kha'zix - Ambition (mid)

White

Bans: Evelynn, Twisted Fate, Diana

Picks

• Shen - Homme (top)
• Nocturne - DanDy (jungle)
• Sona - Ming9 (support)
• Graves - imp (adc)
• Orianna - Mima (mid)

In game two, White seemed unphased by their game one loss. Soon after starting the game, White invaded, catching Helios for first blood. After, White would slowly pick up their aggression, attempting ganks with increasing frequency. Blaze seemed to be taken off guard by this aggression as they continued to fall prey to these ganks. As the game continued in this manner, Blaze seemed to have absolutely no answer to MVP White, and fell deeper into despair. Soon, there was nothing Blaze could do. Even when a fight was started under favorable situations for Blaze, they could not win fights. Now in a hopeless situation, Blaze could only watch as White whittled away at their base. When the time was appropriate, White took an uncontested baron, and continued to pile on the pressure with a three lane split push. Wanting to end the game, DanDy initiated a fight under tower, eventually taking down multiple members of Blaze and forcing the surrender.

Match Breakdown

Both games were actually pretty similar. In game one, Blaze gained a quick advantage and used it to push towers, quickly snowballing a lead to victory. Blaze made good use of their wards to keep an eye on DanDy and was always prepared for counter ganks which proved to be an excellent strategy. In game two, it was White's turn to gain that quick advantage. White also used deep wards to keep tabs on Helios, which allowed them to be aggressive with their ganks, and eventually, win the game. The difference, I think, is that White reacted better to their deficit than Blaze did. White was at least able to put up some resistance. Admittedly it proved to be futile, but Blaze seemed to be completely lost when they lost control of the game. They continued in a disorganized manner and made more mistakes. Hopefully, this is something they will work on for the future.

MVP

The MVP for game one was Helios. With good warding and awareness, Helios always made sure to be there for counter ganks against DanDy which resulted in many favorable trades which eventually led his team to victory.

In game two, the MVP was DanDy. He was extremely involved with the lead his team gained. His aggressive ganks opened many opportunities which White took advantage of. At the end of the game, DanDy was involved in all but two kills for his team.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com