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
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?