Oops, Hai did it again.

Through two weeks of the 2017 spring split, FlyQuest mid laner Hai “Hai” Lam has been up to his old Baron tricks. No matter the game situation, Hai has been finding ways to sneak away with game-changing early buffs.

FlyQuest are sitting second in their control of the game’s first Baron, and the Baron is being taken earlier in their games than for any other team.

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Early Baron control has been a hallmark of Hai’s shotcalling throughout his career. Take a look at his teams’ first-Baron numbers over the past several splits. (Data from 2013 and 2014 is not currently available.)

Ironically, the only low point in Hai’s Baron control came in summer 2015, when Hai was Cloud9’s jungler. It seems that while Hai is great at calling for early Baron plays, it’s best if someone else is pulling the trigger on Smite!

Early Baron control is very important: so far in 2017 in the LCS and LCK, the team that gets the first Baron is winning the game 75% of the time. No one is more keenly aware of this, it seems, than Hai.

FlyQuest are off to a surprising 3-1 start, and both Hai’s overall play mid lane and the team’s early Baron work have been key parts of that success. Aggressive Baron calls shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point: the better the NA LCS gets at catching FlyQuest in the act and punishing their risky Baron attempts, the more FlyQuest may struggle to find success this split.

Photo courtesy flickr.com/lolesports