Analysis and Opinion

NIGHT VISION: Quarterfinals, SN vs. JDG

Night Vision is your nightly recap of the 2020 League of Legends World Championships.

Look below for Recaps, Takeaways, and my pick for which player had a Night to Remember.

Recaps

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Game 1: JDG win
SN Gangplank Graves Galio Miss Fortune Bard
JDG Renekton Lillia Zoe Jhin Leona

JDG controlling neutrals. JDG force into SN counterengage comp at drk3, SN win fight, almost Baron. Same at next, but JDG contest Baron, take themselves, finally hold a lead.

Game 2: SN win
SN Gangplank Graves Zoe Jhin Leona
JDG Renekton Lillia Gangplank Miss Fortune Sett

JDG lead rotation to Herald 1, win fight, get FT. SN winning through bot. SN 5-0 fight at Herald 2, SofM triple kill, game over. Fun Jhin ult angles from huanfeng.

Game 3: SN win
JDG Volibear Lillia Twisted Fate Ezreal Pantheon
SN Gangplank Kindred Galio Jhin Bard

JDG looking to invade raptors level 1, SN win the fight 2-0 and Bin gets both kills, brings Sheen into lane. Game over. The rest is pure entertainment.

Game 4: SN win
JDG Renekton Graves Twisted Fate Ashe Blitzcrank
SN Volibear Kindred Zoe Jhin Thresh

JDG dive Bin early, playing aggressively, give up dragons to get gold lead. SN crush team fight at 3rd dragon, wipe out JDG snowball. Huanfeng is fed, SN win at soul.

Takeaways

  • The Worlds meta has been very decisively early game-oriented, with gold leads out of the laning phase almost always deciding the outcomes. GenG’s comeback against TSM was the exception that proved the rule, and Suning added a second example to the comeback column by overcoming a 90% win probability in JDG’s favour around 17 minutes in and winning the crucial team fights that swung it back into their control.
  • Suning’s ability to make a comeback was partly a result of their strong team fighting, but it was also partly due to JDG’s poor approaches to the dragon setups. To oversimplify, this is the LPL’s double-edged sword: great ability to execute, but often with holes in their map play, objective setups, and overall macro work. JDG threw in some dragon setups in their game 1 win, and threw away game 4 similarly. Teams with stronger macro, like Damwon Gaming, won’t make those types of mistakes. It’s especially disappointing to see since JDG were supposed to be the more macro-oriented Chinese team at this tournament.
  • Level 1 wins are pretty boring to watch. When a Gangplank opens the game with 2 kills and gets to enter his lane with a Sheen, it renders the rest of the game pretty much meaningless. Gangplank with a 2:00 Sheen is fundamentally game-warping. It’s not just about being ahead vs. behind; it’s a different game flow, because now Gangplank can win all his early trades, actively control the lane state, and even gain push priority, which is not how it’s supposed to go. If you’re cheering for the team that wins this way, it’s not going to reduce your enjoyment at all, but as an analyst it’s not much fun having the next 30 minutes play out with only 5% of the analytical value it might otherwise contain.

Night to Remember

huanfeng managed to pull off a flanking Jhin ult from inside the enemy base into JDG’s bot lane without any base turrets killed yet. That alone made this a night to remember for him, but he paired the highlight play with generally great carry performances, big multikills, and a 14.0 KDA for the series.