The Spodek Arena in Katowice, Poland, was the focus of League of Legends this past weekend as the IEM Season 11 World Championship was contested. Eight teams were invited to compete for the $70,000 first place prize (out of a $150,000 prize pool), with Flash Wolves of the LMS dominating to take the title.
Taiwanese dominance
Flash Wolves, G2 Esports, ROX Tigers, H2k-Gaming, Hong Kong Esports, Unicorns of Love, M19 and Kongdoo Monster were the teams involved, but from the opening game there was only one team that looked like winning, with Flash Wolves only dropping one game all tournament long. The Flash Wolves’ overall consistency from all aspects of play allowed them to lift the trophy.
Drawn in the more difficult of the two groups, Flash Wolves squared off against Europe’s number one team G2 Esports in their first match of Group B. In this best-of-one affair Flash Wolves allowed high priority selection Rengar through the ban phase and based their game plan around that decision. By picking winning lanes Flash Wolves nullified the Rengar completely as Trick, who was playing him, ended the game with a 0 kills, 5 deaths and 1 assist stat line.
Following their victory over G2, Flash Wolves beat another top European team, this time Unicorns of Love in a best-of-three clash, to move on as the top seed from Group B. The first match was incredibly close, although Flash Wolves were in control throughout. Opening up with a 4-0 kill lead, Flash Wolves maintained a 2000 gold advantage until 37 minutes into the game. A risky baron call paid off for Flash Wolves, and they secured the baron buff alongside an even 3 for 3 kill trade. The lead grew to 4000 until they took both the baron buff and elder dragon buff simultaneously to give themselves a 10000 gold lead and the inevitable win on 48 minutes.
The second game was not as drawn out, with another risky baron call paying off for Flash Wolves, this time on 28 minutes. With that buff in tow, Flash Wolves destroyed most of UOL’s base, allowing them to take the victory 10 minutes later.
On to the semis
In the semifinals Flash Wolves once again found themselves against European competition, this time Season 6 World Championship semifinalists H2k. Flash Wolves were finally put on the back foot here as they lost the opening game of the best-of-three affair. In a 63-minute low kill clash, H2k did just enough to hand Flash Wolves their first and only loss of the tournament.
Leading for most of game two, H2k made the single poor decision to fight in the Mid lane, meaning their predominantly Tank composition could not do enough damage to take down a single member of Flash Wolves. Maple hit a multi-man stun to give the Flash Wolves the timing they needed to get the ace, where all five members of H2k died. The death timers were long enough that Flash Wolves could push all the way down the Mid lane for the win.
In game three, Flash Wolves made the shocking decision to pick Ashe first instead of the commonly banned Jayce, giving the latter to H2k. Jayce is currently one of the stronger champions for the Mid or Top Lane while Ashe is, at most, the third best AD Carry behind Varus and Jhin. Consequently, Flash Wolves were the only team to give such a priority to Ashe. However, this move paid off as after an incredibly well-fought game, they ground out the victory in just over 46 minutes, setting up a rematch against G2 in the finals.
Flash Wolves not to be denied
The best-of-three finals were eerily similar to the original best-of-one match between G2 and Flash Wolves, with Flash Wolves allowing a strong champion through knowing they could counter it. In game one Flash Wolves allowed LeBlanc through, a champion that had only gone unbanned once previously in this entire tournament. In the end Flash Wolves completely shut down PerkZ’s LeBlanc and G2 as a whole, giving them a swift 32 minute victory.
Game two was the quickest of the tournament for Flash Wolves as they only took 26 minutes to dismantle G2. They would once again leave Jayce and Rengar open and prioritise Ashe, and this strategy ultimately saw them claim the title of IEM Season 11 League of Legends World Champions. Betty and Maple, as they had done all tournament long, performed at the highest level giving Flash Wolves incredibly consistent carries around which to build their game plan. While enemy mid-laner PerkZ was named MVP of the tournament, most observers thought that Maple should have been awarded that accolade.
Part of the success of Flash Wolves was that the team played very well as a unit. MMD, Karsa, Maple, Betty and SwordArt do not have a weak link between them and it is difficult to find either a strategic or tactical weakness to exploit. Certainly Maple should be considered the best player of the five, but the key is that there is little drop off to the other four members of the squad.
