BOL Finals Breakdown

Hey again everyone it is I CTRL ULT ELITE. We are now down to the final week of BOL plat from 16 teams we have the final 2 left in First Class from Shurmia and XG Lightning from Targon. Last week we had 2 banger series for our semifinals. Both games went the full 5 distance and took several hours to complete. I am eager to see everyone tonight for the stream to see who will be crowned the BOL Plat champion this season. Both teams are eager to play one another and both teams have faith that they are the stronger team in this series. Its the right mentality to have and I wish both teams luck in the finals.It's

Who is First Class?

So to me, First Class is a team that relies on solid split push fundamentals and creating early game leads. FC is a team that plays as a team. Everyone has strengths on this team that everyone plays towards. This roster has remained the same throughout the entire regular season they have only had a couple of games with sub-players in the bot lane. They draft well as a team making sure that everyone plays to their own particular strengths. This means that most games have FC bruiser2012 on a side lane split push threat like Jax or Camille, in the jungle, FC Truest plays for team fight junglers, mid lane FC Solem is playing the teams AP threat, and wave clear, the bot lane of this team has Piece Pipe 13 on a hyper carry for late game insurance and FC peptic on some sort of playmaker ensuring that the team has some sort of engage option. Everyone on FC has picks that they excel at. There have been games where they deviated from the norm described above. FC bruiser2012 has a couple of games of Ornn, FC Truest played hard farm sometimes, and Solem has played several types of mid-lane mages.

In order to get to know these teams better I asked some questions to members of both teams in the final. Answering for FC I have the top side of their map their jungler FC Truest, FC Solem in mid & FC bruiser2012 in the top lane.

FC Bruiser2012 Questions

In almost every game you seem to be playing split push for your team and it’s how you play in solo queue as well. What attracted you to this particular set of champions and play style?

I enjoy playing splitpushers because they usually have a higher chance of carrying the game and they are somewhat skill expressive.

There have been a couple of games where you decided to play Ornn instead of your more typical split push options. Why did you play a tank in those games?

I don’t mind playing tanks if we need one and in those games having me play ornn was the best choice for our draft.

How much jungle attention do you want top lane? Is the goal just to have a pure 1v1?

I don’t like any jungle attention at all, I sometimes wish league was just a pure 1v1

You are coming in back to back 5 game series that had tons of back-and-forth. Do you think that is an advantage heading into the final series?

Yes I think it does have an advantage because we had more time to clean up our team play and I think we will turbo grief less in the finals.

Any thoughts on XG your opponent for the finals?

Playing against XG in the finals is kinda blessed because we aren’t really afraid of them, they are a solid team but ion really think they’re gonna give us much of a challenge like other top tier teams do. Should be a fun finals tho

FC Solem Questions

Why is Ori the go-to pick for you? With all of the new champions in league, why go for one of the older and clunkiest to play?

I just switched to playing mid at the very end of the last season. I switched mid from jungle so we could form this competitive team as we did not have someone to fill the mid-lane position and had multiple junglers already. So I went into mid planning on creating a champ pool that is good for competitive play. Also, our coach is a mid-lane ori main so that influenced me. I just find ori fun and she has a high skill cap based on macro and laning mechanics

How long have you been playing league for? Your current account says it started in 2010. When was the first split of comp play compared to when you started playing ranked?

I have only been playing league since end of 2019 not 2010. The first split of comp was this years split, and I've been playing ranked since I started playing

You are the only person playing AP threats on your team. Do you find this ever pinching your own champ pool? Or are you happy to play the mages that you have all split?

I don't mind being sole ap. It makes it so less MR is built in games. I don't find it restricting either because my play style perfectly fits with control mage/ap playstyle. I also think that my champ pool perfectly fits into what my team requests of me so there's no complaints on my end.

You are coming in back to back 5 game series that had tons of back-and-forth. Do you think that is an advantage heading into the final series?

I think that playing in these 5 game series will be an advantage as we are used to the long playing sessions and will not end up mentally exhausted if 5 games is required in finals

Any thoughts on XG your opponent for the finals?

I think their mid plays lane dominant aggressive champs. More than likely ill just have to play safe and scale up for teamfights

Any Shoutouts?

I'm a first season mid player making it to finals is all i have to say. Also shout out to serkaine she is our coach and is super helpful and fun to be around

FC Truest Questions

You have played the least amount of solo queue out of everyone on your team by a long shot. Is that cause jungle in solo queue is akin to mental self torture or are you just super busy?

I find that solo queue is torturous for junglers when they can't micromanage or give tips to their laners aside from pings or the text channels available. I prefer to just play scrims and drafts with friends as it makes the game more enjoyable. Also the champ pool is usually limited as laners prefer to pick their otp's and jungle has to work around them.

Why did you decide to go for the mostly team-fighting jungle pool of Wukong and Maokai as your primary picks? Is it just that you enjoy them or the fact that they have been dominant meta-picks?

While I would argue that those aren't my primary picks, they see the majority of my play in a competitive sense as it compliments the teams most often and it is the general meta which hasn't changed for the last few patches. I do semi-enjoy playing these picks although there are more fun picks I would like to play.

You have the highest kill participation on your team. Is that due to the nature of the jungle role or your own particular way of playing the game?

I think both the jungle role and my playstyle contribute to the KP% I have, as I prefer to only go for the guaranteed plays, this usually leads to higher KP%.

You are coming in back to back 5 game series that had tons of back-and-forth. Do you think that is an advantage heading into the final series?

I think knowing that we can handle our nerves is definitely an advantage.

Any thoughts on XG your opponent for the finals?

no thoughts on XG i like to have a fresh slate for every team

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Who is XG Lightning?

XG was my pick to make it to the finals out of every team on the left side of the bracket and it looks like I was correct to pick them. XG Lightning is a team that looks to play solid fundamental league based off of early game leads and flexibility in draft. XG relies on playing clean engage options through top or jungle and the follow-up that a team needs. The bot lane of Juiiceboxx and Improvise often play things other than the hyper carries we are so used to seeing. Expect things like Jihn Blitzcrank or Miss Fortune Rell to appear within this series. They are the early point of pressure and kick off the dragon stacking for this team. In the top lane, XG Kartanah is often the major team fight power of this team playing either the heavy engage option of something like Sejuani or Maokai or they are playing champions with fight-winning ults like Kennen or Gnar. They are often put on the weak side of the map looking not to out-lane their opponent but to out-team fight them. The mid-jungle duo of XG are where a lot of the flexibility within this team comes through. Prim in mid can play plenty of different champions from the aggressive marksmen of Tristana and Akshan to the tank mids of Gragas and Sion to the poke of Lux and Corki Prim almost always has a new pick to bring out. I wonder if we have seen their entire champion pool or if they have something new and crazy to show in the finals. Fenixflare in jungle has an incredibly wide champion pool as well and FC may have to send bans toward them. Fenixflare has games as the teams carry playing things like Bel’Veth and Kindred but has also has games on plenty of initiation as well like J4 and Vi.

In order to get to know these teams better I asked some questions to members of both teams in the final. Answering for XG I have their support Improvise and Fenix Flare their jungler as well as XG Kartanah in the top lane.

XG Kartanah questions

You have 2 accounts sitting in plat 1. Your second account seems to be mostly support. Why do you play that role as a secondary? How does it help with your top lane play?

Support is actually my main role, I believe I’m significantly better at the role compared to toplane, but every team needs a solid toplaner so I just picked up the role. As for the shared experiences in both roles, I play both roles the same, just top lane I have to actually care about laning (cringe).

You have played a much wider variety of champions than your opposition FC Bruiser2012. Is that because your team plays more varied comps or that you as an individual have a deeper champion pool?

I have played the game for quite a long time, since 2015, so I have had the opportunity to play every champ (bar a few of the new ones/obscure ones) quite a bit, so really time has allowed me to play more champs rather than team.

As an individual, you had super low kill participation in the regular season. You have been improving on this throughout playoffs playing more as the initiator for your team. Was this something you consciously thought about and changed or something that happened naturally?

I was brain off for most of the regular season as toplane doesn't matter, but in playoffs im actually playing the game, playing with my team, and trying to win. Higher stats are just a product of that.

You guys have had only 1 series in the playoffs be close whereas FC has had 2. Is that due to the fact that FC has had a harder road to achieving the finals or that you guys are a better team?

I think its just because we are a better team, playing vs both the Dorado teams, FC going 5 games vs both Sigma and Nu is a little surprising, Sigma I would understand, but I believe Nu is a level below any of the other teams they will play against.

Any thoughts on FC as your opponent for the finals?

no thoughts, head empty, play tanks.

Any shout-outs or anything else you want to say?

shout out to the homie Bixus at Degens for the mid season drama.

Improvise Questions

Bot lanes for both teams have the highest-rated players according to solo queue. Is there a reason for this or do you just think that an amazing bot lane is fundamental to a team worthy of finals?

I don't think us being a higher rank than other bot lanes is a big reason we made it to finals. Having a good bot lane helps a lot but the game is a team game. Plus it's mainly a support gap for us, juice gets carried by me. 😉

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You are tearing up solo queue as Milio and he has been S tier since release. What do you think is the strongest part of his kit? Are you doing something different on the champion that most other players are missing?

I go hard in the paint my guy. You just put shield on you and run at people, other supports play him too much like an enchanter. Hit them mf with that broken passive. Champ is dog overall and not blindable, easy to beat if you have a brain.

I see you used to be a mid-lane main. Why did you swap over to support? Do you enjoy the playstyle more? The champions available? The ability to influence the map with rotations?

I am still a mid-lane main and truly believe I'd body 90% of these mids in this league. Mid is boring and you can't play to 1v9 games anymore cause its more of a utility help team role now. I like playing support now because lots of supports are really bad at the game and don't understand anything about lane or wave management.

You guys have had only 1 series in the playoffs be close whereas FC has had 2. Is that due to the fact that FC has had a harder road to achieving the finals or that you guys are a better team?

This is a bait question my guy, but I fall for those baits. Nu mid/jg was burnt out cause they've been hard winning other leagues and those mf sigmers griefed. They've been on tilt since I solo killed Dojos twice as heimer. Bozo. I don't think FC is bad by any means but we've also beat both Nu and Sigma. Convincingly too. Their games vs them were sloppy and ugly.

Any thoughts on FC as your opponent for the finals?

I'm not too surprised. They were Risen finalists and they're not a bad team. They are easilly exploited though, too bad no one went and watched that series where LCE Noir completely destroyed them. Gonna feel a bit bad for them losing two finals back to back. XG 3-0.

Any shout-outs or anything else you want to say?

Huge shout out to all of our discord members/community that's been tearing up the twitch chats for us. These mf are relentless. Don't type in twitch chat if you're not rooting for XG. Also, shout out to God because they keep prayin for a win but they aint getting it. Also shout out to me for being the best support ever. Ez clap

Fenix Flare Questions

Your team and you in particular seem to have really swingy games. Games that you win have you dominating the scoreboard with insane KDAs. In losses, you are the player on your team with the highest death totals. You also take the most damage a minute of every player on your team. Do you think this is due to your aggressive nature as a player? Or is there another reason?

I would agree as a team we tend to snowball quite hard, we take leads and push them very well. My overall aggressive play style definitely feeds into it. But as well I am a firm believer of dying for my laners and carries. In many situations I see that my death is better than that of prim and juice and will take that fall to hopefully soften the blow. I'm sure there are times I'm over zealous, but if there is a play our team is looking at I'm gonna be there which results in my fighting a lot. I can see why I would take the most damage a minute and have the higher death rate.

This is your best season of solo queue ever and it looks like you have a pretty good chance to hit Diamond for the 1st time. Have you changed something significant in your overall gameplay or has this year or random jungle changes something that just clicked with you?

This is the best season of league solo queue I've ever had, honestly, before I wasn't really the biggest fan of ranked and really lacked the motivation. After seeing my teammates get up to Diamond and talk about trying a Diamond league in the future. I felt motivated to get myself back into it. I truly enjoy playing comp with this org and team and don't want to be left behind, sorta ignited a fire in me. My time over at xg with the help with coaching and mentors I've been able to improve a lot of my gameplay, I've noticed the climb not being as difficult for me and I've noticed the growth over this season. The jungle changes I usually adapt to pretty well but a lot of my favorite go to champs are the meta right now and that certainly makes it easier as well.

You are playing some of the best champions who look to hard farm in Bel’Veth and Kindred in comp play. I feel that these champions completely warp the game around themselves. Do you enjoy this style of gameplay in particular? Or are you just playing whatever your coach/team thinks is the best pick at the time?

Kindred and Bel'veth are strong champs in the competitive meta, I do love when I get to play with them, it's sorta all eyes in the carry jungler where we are dedicating a lot of resources my way, they both also have a very high skill ceiling and playmaking potential. Kindred fits the best for me since I can play quite aggressively but also farm it out as well. As for what we play, we do a lot of research on our opponents, and see what we believe to be there strengths, weaknesses, patterns, etc. Then come up with some plans on what comps we are good at that they don't necessarily have an answer for. Each team is different. For example, when we were facing oblivion, we knew Thier jungler could be exploited, he was really only strong on 2 champs and then fell apart, we took bel veth since they were target focusing me in bans so I couldn't play the aggressive scaling champs. We just ran Thier top side with it and they had no answer.

You guys have had only 1 series in the playoffs be close whereas FC has had 2. Is that due to the fact that FC has had a harder road to achieving the finals or that you guys are a better team?

Facing both dorado teams and winning is a good feat, it's only something we and fc have accomplished. So gotta give them the respect they deserve, although I think anyone making it to finals has had a tough go, while we did crush abyss, I feel like we were just more prepared for our opponents than fc.

Any thoughts on FC as your opponent for the finals?

Im hyped to play FC as our opponents for finals, however I do wish it was a dorado since we built up a rivalry with them on our side of the bracket. However I still think it's gonna be a great final series.

Any shout-outs or anything else you want to say?

For shout-outs I really have to shout out all the people back home cheering us on, love Thier support and makes the experience just that much better. As well I have to shout out Elysium and Dorado for cheering us on, and for making it a very exciting side of the bracket, they really pushed us as a team and made us a better one.

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Prediction for Finals

I think that this should be a close series for finals. Both XG and FC have shown that they are teams who are not relying on one individual lane or pick to carry them across the finish line. When we look lane by lane between these 2 teams there are very few ELO differences. The only big one to me seems to be the difference of FenixFlare the jungler of XG who is a full division above FC Truest. All the other players are within a division of one another so I don’t expect any lane to run away with the games.

Both teams have picks that would be priorities for them and few of them overlap. I think the biggest question for me in this series will be based on the draft and how both teams adapt. Top lane I think has the potential to have the most impact in this series for both teams. FC Bruiser2012 in the top for FC needs to make an impact with their champion pool for FC to pull ahead. If XG Kartanah is able to stall out the side lane win condition it is a huge win for XG. So I think a major part of the series will focus on the top lane. Maybe picking things in round 1 before 2nd bans come in might become the play for FC. Maybe it will be bans. Maybe top lane does not matter whatsoever as it has for most of this year and bot lane becomes the place bans are focused. In the last series for FC, Sigma kept most of their bans around the mid lane picks of FC Solem. On the side of OER vs XG most of their bans went after the jungle pool of FenixFlare.

Overall I am expecting that XG is going to take this series 3-1. I think that they have a much higher potential and have been really turning it on in playoffs. If XGL can keep themselves from getting too cute and out there with their team comps I think they have an advantage in the draft as they simply have more options available to them. I believe that FC have shown that they are a strong team and I would not be surprised to see them win the 1st game of this series as this team starts off strong winning early game decisively in most of the games that they play. But once XG is able to figure something out that keeps them even early I think they will turn the series in their favor.