ROCCAT vs Elements: By the Numbers

What happened to the wonder team?  I remember all the hype at the beginning of the Spring season for the powerhouse that Elements was supposed to be.  After all, they were Alliance--who took the first place spot in the European LCS last year--combined with the ADC from Fnatic that many considered the best Europe had to offer (remember Rekkles consoling SSB's Deft after their only loss in the Group Stage?).

Their original meeting in Week 2 resulted in a loss for ROCCAT after a lengthy 60 minute match, which definitely looked a little sloppy on Elements' part.  Now, armed with a little more experience, 4-5 Elements was favored to win over the 3-6 ROCCAT.

What happened, though, was another story.  ROCCAT honed in early on Elements' weaknesses, landing 3 kills on Kev1n (who joined earlier this week to replace Wickd, who honestly had been having a rough time in previous games) by 14 minutes.  After a few more kills and unchecked pushing (especially that push in the bottom lane that went unchecked until after the Tier 2 tower, after which Elements handed ROCCAT two nice kills, the bot inhibitor tower, and the inhibitor--all around 23 minutes), ROCCAT had pressure on all three lanes, 3 Dragons, and a Baron buff besides.  ROCCAT managed to close out the game at around 31 minutes, with 13 kills on the board.

Things started off badly for Kev1n.  They ended badly too.

1. Wickd was having a rough time, but Kev1n's got it worse.  It's not uncommon for teams to punish a new player to the LCS in their first few games (think of Piglet's opening week in the NA LCS, when he wasn't forgetting his masteries), but Kev1n isn't playing with that in mind.  He's making poor decisions that cost him valuable summoner spells.  He also fell easily, only taking 3.7k damage per death (compare that to Rekkles, who took 5.7k, or Froggen, who took 12.9k).  He also averaged less than 5 CS / minute.  He's definitely going to need a little more practice off the stage.

Here comes Elements only to bring Vander down to half health before losing two.

2. Strict AD comps are hard to pull off.  They definitely enjoy the early advantage of (typically) a CS lead, and have the ability to push towers harder early.  However, they require early snowballing to make the strategy viable, which takes a level of aggression that Elements isn't known for.  It doesn't help either that the majority of their Magic Damage (which would become much more relevant end game) would come from an Annie support whose only AP item was a Spellthief's Edge.  Although strong in theory, Elements might want to run one of their more typical line ups when they bring a new player on board.

Arcane Barrage is not enough to stop 5 members of ROCCAT.

3. ROCCAT took advantage of every misstep.  On Elements' side, it looked they they were playing in solo queue--sticking primarily to their own lanes, pushing the objectives they were responsible for during the laning phase.  In fact, at the end of the game, Elements had really only accomplished that--taking down ROCCAT's tier 1 towers (the last of which was taken moments before/after ROCCAT took their first inhibitor).  Time and time again, Elements misappropriated their focus and were punished for it.

And there goes Nyph's health.

4.  Nukeduck.  In previous games, his name has seemed a little ironic when he was melted by enemy mid laners.  However, in this game he really lived up to his name, melting HP bars right and left with LeBlanc combos.  He didn't even bother building a Zhonya's Hourglass, instead finishing the game off with a Void Staff.  In the end he was only 3/0/2, but that doesn't take into account the times he took huge chunks out of the enemy team.  He stood out at the end with a 3.2 Damage to Champions to Damage Taken ratio.

Jankos just about walked away from the dive.  That'd be Froggen's only kill.

5.  +10 Armor Penetration is not going to cut it.  This is harking a back to the AD comp, but Elements didn't really put any effort into neutralizing their obvious counter: armor.  Overpow had 195 Armor from items alone at the end of the game; Jankos was a handful of gold away from getting Randuin's; even VandeR had 50 armor from his Zhonya's at the end of the game.  That's a front line that's going to barely feel the damage that Elements would be able to dish out.

I can't stress enough that this didn't look like a fair match.  ROCCAT decimated Elements, destroying every tower, securing every Dragon, and taking the only Baron of the game.  If Elements wants to pay any homage to the hype, they're going to need to pull together as a team and pick strategies and compositions that allow them to play their passive early game.  It also would help if they file their paperwork in time.

Other interesting statistics:

• Nukeduck's damage output can't be overstated at 3.2.  2nd place was Woolite with 1.2, and 3rd Vander at .7.

• Shook put up with a lot of damage--20.1k average per death.  2nd place was Froggen with 12.9k, and 3rd Woolite with 12.7k.

• Froggen still kept the CS up, despite the loss, with 9.8/minute.  2nd place was Nukeduck with 9.3, and 3rd Rekkles with 8.7.

• GPM was pretty one-sided, with Woolite 1st at 408, Nukeduck 2nd at 403, and Overpow 3rd at 401.