Straight into the action our boys start off the first day of the second OPL split against Avant Gaming. In champ select our opponents prioritised Sejuani for Sybol in the jungle, our response? Pick up Irelia for the flex and Yuumi for Decoy. The beauty of this Irelia flex pick is that it allowed us to take a peek into Avant’s team, and with a Camille and Nautilus locked in for Chippys and Isles, we decide on Ezreal for Raid. With two champions equipped to provide hard crowd control in team fights, the boys elected to further compliment our team composition with a Skarner for Praelus. The enemy team chose to put Shok on Cassiopeia for some consistent wave clear with an AOE stun and a Yasuo for Miru, leaving our boy Pabu on his Fiora.
Going in to the game Gravitas knew they needed to focus on finding their 5v5 teamfights as Avant Gaming had a dangerous pick focused comp where any mispositioning could spell disaster . With first blood going to our opponents in a respectable gank in the top lane, we managed to pull off a beautiful teamfight resulting in an ace. What started out as Praelus being caught quickly turned around when Pabu teleported while Decoy and Haeri stacked their ultimates to allow Raid to deal damage freely. Through this impressive display of team-fighting ability Gravitas was able to get a clean ace only 11 minutes into the game.
With Shelly being picked up by Gravitas and utilising her power to break open top lane, they knew the team needed to push their advantage and earn more objectives on the map. An infernal being spawned forced both teams to fight for the mid game power, but an unfortunate midlane skirmish resulted in a 2 for 1 trade and a free infernal dragon for Avant. Now with all three dragons on the side of Avant, but the overall gold being even, Gravitas knew they couldn’t allow a fourth dragon to be given up so easily.
A second infernal being spawned demanded a contest, but with Praelus going down, another dragon went to the side of Avant Gaming. Trying to force his opponents back Raid stepped a little too closely, forcing himself to flash away. Unfortunately Camille quickly took advantage of the misstep with a hookshot, flash into Hextech Ultimatum there was nothing Raid could do, even with Haeri providing his Vanguard’s Edge all members of Gravitas went down. Avant were then able to grab an easy Baron and obtain the rest of the dragons that spawned throughout the game.
A second Baron being spawned called for an all or nothing with what looked to be a desperate Skarner ultimate from Praelus onto Sybol, it only paved the way to a four man glacial prison and one by one the members of Gravitas fell with their nexus soon following. An unfortunate turn of events but there was still an opportunity for a win against Mammoth.
Gravitas GM Brandon ‘Juves’ Defina caught up with Haeri after our first game in the split
Unfortunately we lose our opening match to Avant Gaming!@SINJuves caught up with @Haeri_Oce to get his thoughts on todays game.#GravitasGlory pic.twitter.com/5qjQ7TXpHj
— Gravitas (@Gravitas) June 7, 2019
Day two finds us matched against Mammoth, coming in fresh from a disappointing loss yesterday the team knew a victory would be a strong way to finish the week. Finding ourselves in champion select, Sejuani is quickly picked up. We know from experience with Avant Gaming what a CC powerhouse she is and what the champion provides in teamfights. Mammoth decide that Nautilus and Neeko is the priority here, giving an insight into what would look to be an AOE team fight composition. The boys drafting for their win condition, place Raid on Kaisa and Decoy with Braum; the duo would aim to have a strong laning phase, with the double proc passive to decimate any 2v2 in their favor. Unfortunately a calculated pick on K1ng with a Sivir to negate Braum’s laning and on top of that a Trundle to counter Praelus, the drafting was looking towards Mammoth’s favour. We decide on a second win condition, surprising Mammoth with a Pyke for Pabu and Leblanc for Haeri, our opponents decide to further stack their AOE comp with a Morgana in the mid lane.
Gravitas start off with a five man spread, but with no members of Mammoth showing on the map Praelus goes for an aggressive ward near raptors, a Dredge Line from Destiny seals First Blood for Topoon on Neeko, giving Mammoth the early lead. Knowing that Praelus needs to catch up Bapip goes for a gank top, burning an early flash to give Topoon the advantage. With Mammoth having a lead on Topoon, his lane is prioritised by Praelus as Pabu is able to trade a kill to get him on the board. While Gravitas’ attention is focused topside, Raid and Decoy go down to a clean four man dive bot lane. An equivalent exchange is made as the Rift Herald falls to Gravitas while Mammoth secures the Mountain Dragon.
In an attempt to get Raid back into the match they utilise Shelly to get him some solo gold as compensation for the rough early game. The team provide lots of vision to prepare for team fights they’re confident with around the map, a mid lane siege from Mammoth, result in Decoy and Babip going down, with Raid soon afterward, however with a nice teleport from Haeri it becomes a 2 for 2 exchange. The lockdown coming from Mammoth was too strong, but Gravitas wasn’t going to let a small lead get the best of them.
Reevaluating their strategy Pabu and Haeri decide to split push their side lanes, blocking Mammoth from utilising their five man lock down composition. Praelus gets caught in Mammoth red jungle forcing the rest of his team to contest what Mammoth felt was a free Baron play and manage to delay the Baron long enough for Praelus to respawn. Mammoth soon try again but unfortunately Pabu gets taken down with Haeri soon after. Raid and Decoy posture themselves to back Praelus up for the steal, getting a pick on Topoon. Praelus attempts the heroic steal with Raid but both fall to Mammoth and lose the objective.
Gravitas had the team comp they needed to come out on top but with a five man baron siege in the bot lane the team’s defences begin to fall. After taking Decoy down and opening up their bot lane, the Baron buff made for a swift destruction of their nexus. Despite a disappointing first week, these losses aren’t enough to stop the boys from giving up.
Brandon ‘Juves’ Defina speaks with Pabu on his thoughts about our 0-2 weekend
Difficult week for out squad!@SINJuves spoke with @Pabu22 about our 0-2 week and how we can turn it around next week!#GravitasGlory #IAMOPL #GRVWIN pic.twitter.com/wKx4udXkCl
— Gravitas (@Gravitas) June 8, 2019
