CBLOL 2022 Split 1 Week 2 Wrap-up

CBLoL 2022 Split 1 Week 2 Standings

1. FURIA Esports (3–1)
1. KaBuM! e-Sports (3–1)
1. Liberty (3–1)
1. Netshoes Miners (3–1)
1. RED Canids (3–1)
6. LOUD (2–2)
7. INTZ (1–3)
7. paiN Gaming (1–3)
7. Rensga (1–3)
10. Flamengo Esports (0–4)

1. FURIA Esports (W2: 2–0) INTZ + paiN

With all the roster changes in the off-season, I had thought that a team stacked with some of the strongest players in their roles would have an advantage. However, that was proven false as FURIA fell to LOUD last week. Nevertheless, FURIA is still a strong roster who should have no problem picking apart teams who struggle to lane against them. That’s bad news for INTZ who will be facing them first, while paiN Gaming will be an interesting case of whether FURIA’s laning will be sufficiently overwhelming, or whether they can figure out their identity as a team in the mid to late game.

Yup, this game went exactly how we expected. FURIA put on an epic clinic, systematically dismantling INTZ. It wasn’t an absolute bloodbath, but instead FURIA simply did not give INTZ any chance to do anything, always ready with an answer for any of INTZ’s attempts. Really not too much to say, every lane just did their jobs and won out their lanes. If anything, Ranger Nation continues to thrive as Ranger seemed to read INTZ like a book.

I’m starting to press X to doubt that FURIA is actually a CBLOL team, and I mean this in the best possible way. We expected a surgical game against INTZ, but FURIA also had a faultless game against paiN Gaming. That isn’t to say that it was a perfect game, FURIA did lose a dragon, herald, and a couple of deaths and turrets. However, nothing paiN did was unpunished, every death or objective was appropriately answered, and even when paiN was ahead, it felt like FURIA was just biding their time. With Tryndamere, Viktor and Jinx on their team, FURIA never needed to rush, with Netuno and Envy rewarded their patience in team-fights, even when 4v5. fNb deserves his own special mention as well, getting bullied in the early game, but bouncing back to force paiN to burn multiple abilities on him every fight, leaving them lacking when the rest of FURIA engaged. Overall a stellar performance and one that would not be out of place in more technical regions like the LCK.

FURIA really is starting to coalesce together as a huge threat to the region. Aside from RED (when they look good), FURIA have been showing some of the best macro play when playing from ahead. I’m not just talking about taking dragons, but knowing where to allocate resources in their lanes, early ganks, and how to set up team-fights across the map. I’m particularly looking forward to their game against RED next week to see if they can continue this level of play against one of the best teams in the region. As long as they have a good showing, even if they don’t win, it’ll be enough to impress me as this team still has space to grow.

1. KaBuM! e-Sports (W2: 1–1) Rensga + RED

It might be a little early after just 1 week, but KaBuM! are looking better than I expected coming into the season. This isn’t based off their 2–0 week 1 results (though they did beat paiN), but more based off how they looked while winning. Wiz has been an incredible early game force, while Hauz put up some of the best K/D/A numbers in the league. The biggest surprise to me was Disave and Scuro really stepping up in lane to give KaBuM! a ton of pressure all over the map.

Though Disave had a beautiful scoreline, with the most kills (tied with Parang) in their match against KaBuM!, this game was really all about Wiz and Hauz. Not only did Wiz continue his relentless aggression, but Hauz also got off to a flying start, and as anyone who’s had to play against a fed Zoe will tell you… it isn’t fun at all. Every time Hauz landed a bubble, someone died or had a heart attack. While the game took just shy of 30 minutes to close out, it was pretty much over at 20 minutes, and the last 10 minutes was just Hauz taking free shots at Rensga.

On one hand, I want to call this a draft gap, but on the other hand, the draft wasn’t bad, just… lacking compared to what RED Canids managed to draft. For the 1st time this season, we got to see Wiz completely blocked out in the early game, and it showed as all the lanes were left to fend for themselves. KaBuM! doesn’t have weak lanes, but it looked that way as every lane for themselves pressured early on, leaving Wiz vulnerable to invades and contests in his own jungle. Against a Caitlyn/Lux lane, KaBuM! could not afford to lose global pressure, and it showed as they were down 3.3k gold at the 15 minute mark. Things only got worse as Caitlyn/Lux left lane to wreck havoc everywhere else, and eventually, in the KaBuM! Base.

You live by Wiz, you die by Wiz. While the Ninjas had an incredible early showing, their weakness has just been exposed to the entirety of CBLOL — shut down Wiz. That said, I don’t think there are many teams which can simultaneously shut down Wiz and win all their lanes. Week 3 will, however, showcase 2 teams that might fit the bill. Liberty, who’ve caught up with an undefeated Week 2 against 2 of the stronger teams, and LOUD, the crowd favourites who continue showcasing strong lanes.

1. Liberty (W2: 2–0) RED + LOUD

Splitting Week 1 with a win and a loss apiece, I’m still struggling to pin down Liberty. They looked solid in both their games, with Krastyel, Matsukaze and Wos all looking pretty good. Disamis and Kiari had a more muted presence, but it’s precisely these 2 players who I need to see more of. This week should reveal more of Liberty’s true colours as both RED and LOUD have strong lanes as well as a solid grasp of how to close out games. Liberty will have to be proactive and look to make plays if they want to prove their mettle.

Liberty delivered in the match against reigning champions RED, with a well-thought out plan in draft. To start, they managed to snag themselves the popular Viktor, while banning out the accepted counter of Corki. Seeing RED draft the infamous Camille/Galio combination, Liberty had the perfect counter-pick of Gragas as their R5 choice, and my goodness did that pan out. Kiari found 2 early solo-kills, utterly nullifying the Camille pick, and with that early pressure, Disamis got to play aggressively on the top side of the map to shut down Aegis as well. Krastyel continued to be a bedrock for the team, scaling up and becoming an absolute menace in team-fights. With the top half of the map locked down, Matsukaze and Wos didn’t have any pressure to outperform, but could instead just scale up and follow up from the success of the rest of the team.

Kiari continues to strut his stuff and remind us all why he was a CBLOL 2021 Split 2 finalist as he got his signature Gwen. Combined with the typical solid performance of Krastyel, Matsukaze and Wos, Liberty got to scale up basically for free. In the team-fights, Krastyel didn’t quite manage to get the highlight reel-worthy Shockwaves, but Kiari more than compensated for it, casting all of LOUD into chaos, allowing Matsukaze to launch rocket after rocket completely un-threatened in all the fights.

Coming into the week, I wasn’t quite sure how good this 2022 Liberty roster really was, but after this week, I can lay my questions to rest. The style of Liberty hasn’t changed, as they looked incredibly smooth flowing from objective to objective. Kiari has stepped up and proven himself once again to be a worthy heir to fill the gap fNb left on this team. Disamis knows how to play with winning lanes, and as things stand, Liberty is looking like a top team! The final test will be how Liberty looks up against aggressive early game teams, and we’ll get to see just that next week against KaBuM!.

1. Netshoes Miners (W2: 1–1) paiN + Rensga

While FourY4 was all aboard the Netshoes Miners train last week, I still had some reservations. They did look pretty good in their games, winning in style, but this week will be a slightly better test. So far, all the lanes have looked strong, but paiN Gaming will be a potential test of whether they can manufacture leads outside of laning, or whether they can come back from behind. Rensga is less of a test, but you can’t afford to underestimate any team in the league.

I’m glad to see one of my questions answered… even if it was in the least replicable way. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and Netshoes Miners ran back the dive composition from Week 1, trusting in Anyyy and Drop to be able to find the perfect engages again. The problem was that they ran it into a composition which had plenty of ways to stop and disrupt engage, with Lee Sin’s Dragon Rage, Viktor’s Gravity Field and Leona existing. So it’s hardly a surprise that Netshoes Miners found themselves falling behind in the mid-game. That’s where the story should have ended, but Croc alone changed the plans of fate by going in solo through the entirety of paiN Gaming to steal away a Baron. Following up on the steal, Netshoes Miners managed to find a quick pick, and one pick quickly snowballed into more with a dive composition buffed by Baron.

What on earth just happened in this game?! Right from the get-go, this game looked like a stereotypical Brazilian fiesta, with both teams choosing to play aggressive, looking for early skirmishes. Netshoes Miners showed the reason why they were undefeated before this, with lane leads in pretty much every position. But as good as their laning looked, their fighting looked slightly suspicious, opting into multiple losing fights and letting Rensga stay in the game. Netshoes Miners had better macro, cracking an inhibitor turret, but seemed to develop tunnel-vision, trying to force their way back down there, run into the meat-grinder that was Rensga. Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results… Netshoes Miners descended into insanity as they threw the game repeatedly, throwing away their perfect record.

I don’t even know where to start with Netshoes Miners… When they’re in form, they look like a championship team, but their game against Rensga was the single biggest head-scratcher I’ve seen this split yet. Considering it’s Netshoes Miners first bad game, I’m inclined to continue being optimistic here. The Netshoes Miners cannot afford these sort of mistakes next week as they take on 2 other top teams in RED and Liberty who are looking every bit as scary as Netshoes Miners.

1. RED Canids (W2: 1–1) Liberty + KaBuM!

Even though RED Canids are still looking as strong as ever, their 2nd week will be a trial by fire as they not only face off against Liberty, who have looked rock solid, but also against a KaBuM! team who have just been popping off! Regardless of the level of competition, RED are going to be favourites to win in pretty much every match-up until they start losing.

Ok, this isn’t a situation of me caster-cursing RED into a loss. This is RED deciding that Saturdays are going to be Super-hard Saturdays. It isn’t quite limit testing, but RED drafted a composition with very strict win conditions and some very difficult match-ups. Guigo might have saved them last week, but this week, he was the weakest link as he got counter-picked and bullied out through the early game. The composition relied on either Guigo or Aegis getting ahead and acting as the primary engage for Grevthar on Galio to follow-up. When Guigo fell behind, it also affected Aegis’ jungle control, causing him to fall behind as well. Ultimately, Liberty drafted a scaling composition with easier composition and RED failed to effectively counter them out.

After a bit of a rough Saturday, RED Canids played a much simpler, cleaner game against KaBuM!. A textbook composition with Caitlyn/Lux for TitaN/Jojo, Aegis on an early ganking Jarvan IV, Guigo being the biggest chad picking the tank of Ornn, and an interesting meta Viktor pick for Grevthar. Every single player dominated their lanes, and Aegis did a great job making sure that KaBuM! could never get any help from their jungler, constantly shadowing and stopping Wiz in advance. With clinical precision, RED just played it perfectly and ended with a decisive 10.7k lead.

RED Canids have been handed their first loss of the season, and it was well-deserved to Liberty. Nevertheless, RED Canids are still looking like the strongest team, especially when their draft is solid and they’re not taking risks. One thing that I especially liked from this week was getting to see Grevthar on an actual carry rather than just playing an enabler like Kled or Galio. His Viktor looked good and opens up more avenues of play for this already daunting team.

6. LOUD (W2: 1–1) Flamengo + Liberty

LOUD is sitting in the middle of the pack, but with 2 games, one of which was against reigning champions RED Canids, LOUD probably deserve to be higher. Tay’s role-swap to jungle has looked seamless thus far, with good map movements aided by responsive lanes. Robo and tinowns have looked great as well, with little to no visible issues integrating in with the rest of the LOUD roster. I said last week that LOUD have looked good from ahead. Against Flamengo and Liberty, I’m curious to see if they can continue to maintain their early leads, and if not, how they’ll recover from behind.

There’s a lot to be said about this game of LOUD vs Flamengo. On paper, it should have been a quick one in favour of LOUD, but the reality was vastly different. As a teaser, the kill score was 13 to 14, with LOUD having the 13 kills. Tay and tinowns had a muted performance in the early game, with barely any map pressure as Lee Sin and Twisted Fate respectively. Even worse, a botched play in the bot lane fed 4 early kills over to Flamengo’s bot-lane. From there, LOUD’s ability to make proactive plays was severely weakened. As befits their status of veterans, LOUD quietly soaked all the pressure Flamengo was putting out, and managed to punish the few mistakes that were made. But even after winning back-to-back team-fights, LOUD was still only on even footing. It took a baron to really swing things in their favour, but even then… Flamengo managed to stop the final nexus push with a massive team-fight from Flare. Experience is strength though, as Tay and tinowns finally made a big play, as they back-doored the exposed Flamengo Nexus to secure LOUD a rather desperate win.

While LOUD managed to come back from a rough early game against Flamengo, Liberty gave them no such leeway. Robo lost an early duel against Kiari in a 1v1 which ended up hampering Tay’s early game pressure. Things went further downhill as DudsTheBoy and Ceos also failed to apply pressure and allowed Matsukaze to freely farm on Jinx. tinowns was the bright shining hope of the team in the mid-game on Vex, finding some really good picks onto the carries of Liberty, but it was too little, too late. LOUD was already too far behind as a team, and were just unable to match Liberty and contest for objectives.

At this point, it’s difficult to call LOUD a super-team. It’s more than just a lack of cohesion and coordination as LOUD have found themselves on the losing end of laning multiple times. With all these big names, LOUD really shouldn’t be looking this mediocre, but at the same time… it is very on brand with what we’ve seen from LOUD last year. Perhaps it’s partially due to the relatively rough strength of schedule they’ve had, but LOUD won’t be getting much of a chance to catch their breath, as they face another juggernaut in KaBuM! next week.

7. INTZ (W2: 1–1) FURIA + Flamengo

I’ve been surprised at how coordinated a lot of the CBLOL teams have looked coming into 2022, considering the amount of changes we’ve seen. Unfortunately, INTZ has not been one of those teams that has surprised me. While there’s been individual brilliance from all the players, the lack of coordination has led to INTZ struggling to make plays in the mid-game. Until we start to see that coordination come through, it’s hard to really favour INTZ in most of their matches, but on the bright side, once it does start to come together, INTZ could blast off to the moon.

At least in their match against FURIA… there wasn’t much of a bright side to look at. INTZ tried to play textbook, front-to-back, but FURIA didn’t just read them like an open book, FURIA looked like they wrote the book themselves. Right from the get-go, INTZ fell behind in tempo, and that never really changed. Decoy tried some roams with Yampi, but FURIA always seemed ready with a response to prevent anything from actually happening. That, combined with weaker laning, caused INTZ to just slowly fall further and further behind.

Any rumours of INTZ’s early death in the season have apparently been greatly exaggerated! Most of the casters and analysts in the region had favoured Flamengo over INTZ, and the Intrepids have taken that personally. This game was an absolute massacre as every single player stepped up, even in match-ups that did not favour them. The early game was a little quiet for INTZ, but they were just biding their time and building themselves up. When they started moving, INTZ starting taking absolutely everything in rapid succession. Bolstered by the double globals of Twisted Fate and Senna, INTZ showed a level of coordination that fans were praying for, but had been hitherto unseen. Yampi and Decoy looked amazing together initiating and disrupting any sort of of order Flamengo were looking for. While mica0 might have lacked damage to finish off targets, Tyrin was always there to clean up. If we take just this game in isolation, INTZ looked like a playoff team, but… let’s not get ahead of ourselves for now.

INTZ have finally gotten themselves on the board, and more importantly, their win against Flamengo showed a glimpse of the heights this roster could potentially reach. It is tempered with their loss against FURIA, which was the complete opposite of their win against Flamengo. The story of INTZ continues to be a question of whether this team can come together and be on the same page. Regardless who their opponents are, INTZ just need to focus on themselves first.

7. paiN Gaming (W2: 0–2) Netshoes Miners + FURIA

My head is telling me that paiN Gaming are looking outmatched this week, but my heart just refuses to give up on them. This paiN Gaming roster performed exactly as it looked on paper, with strong laning, but not overwhelming. Their macro play was solid, but hardly inspired. Almost like gatekeepers at this point. The issue for them this week, is that they’ll be facing Netshoes Miners who have looked good, and FURIA, who are likely to have at least even, if not better laning prowess. For paiN Gaming to pull out wins this week, they’ll have to show a spark of the “X” factor, being more than just good.

Ouch… how did paiN get so close, only to let it all slip away?! The early game wasn’t the prettiest, but paiN were headed into the mid-game with a modest lead, and more importantly, a composition that had several answers to the dive of Netshoes Miners. paiN Gaming were showing good patience and macro as they rotated around the map, securing dragons and turrets. However, just when things were looking good, paiN Gaming lost a Baron in the most painful way, allowing Croc to walk in through the front door and actually smite-steal it away from CarioK. It was a miracle, it was a disaster, and paiN seemed stunned as they were then picked apart by Netshoes Miners. I want to say that this was a loss that doesn’t count… but getting smite-stolen is part of the game and reflects poorly on paiN’s ability to secure objectives.

Trying to bounce back from a rough Saturday, paiN Gaming came into the match against FURIA swinging, drafting a pick composition and finding a cheeky level 1 pick in the mid-lane. Capitalizing on that success, paiN continued by pressing a fast pace in the laning phase. Success was mixed, as paiN did manage to find kills and get Wizer ahead in lane, but elsewhere, FURIA managed to stave off the gank attempts, continue stoically farming up and pick up dragons to threaten a dragon soul win condition. As the mid-game rolled round, FURIA began grouping up, denying paiN the opportunity to find isolated picks. Damage and dyNquedo did what they could, finding some good sneaky catches, but paiN, as a team, was just unable to contest even in 5v4 team-fights.

A disappointingly expected result for this storied organization this week, made all the more bitter by the tantalizing glimpses of hope they gave us. paiN Gaming continued to show early game strength, but that “X” factor just wasn’t there. In both games, paiN Gaming had to watch as their mid to late game slid away from them. It’s not a case of paiN screwing up or being bad, it’s just a case of the enemy team being better. Now sitting 1–3, paiN will be going up against Flamengo and INTZ next week. No more excuses or chances, losses there will cement paiN Gaming as a lower tier team for the beginning of the split.

7. Rensga Esports (W2: 1–1) KaBuM! + Netshoes Miners

Although Rensga are sitting at the bottom of the standings, they actually haven’t looked that bad. Hades and Guard have been a pleasant surprise in the bot lane thus far, able to match up with the likes of TitaN/Jojo in lane. But as fate would have it, Week 2 is doomed to be just as hard (if not harder) than Week 1, with the Cowboys having to face the other 2 undefeated (as of Week 1) teams, both of whom are coming into the week with a lot of momentum. It’s possible they find a win this week, but it’s also improbable and would be a big upset if true.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be against KaBuM!, even as I was positive about their composition. The issue was execution, specifically against Hauz’s Zoe, which got off to an early lead. Goku was constantly ganked, and was never able to try and punish early. Thing went from bad to worse as Ayel also got zoned out by jungle attention, falling behind 2 levels by the 20 minute mark. Hades and Guard tried, but once again, Zoe just had too much threat and Hades wasn’t able to kite around fights.

Finally! Rensga score a win, and CBLOL has a mid-laner who can actually play Orianna! It was a hard and drawn-out affair for the Cowboys, but they’re finally on the board. Their drafting was well done, and they had theoretical answers to everything the undefeated Netshoes Miners were looking to do. There is a gap between theory and reality though, and Rensga amply demonstrated this. While the scorelines looked good for Rensga, they operated at a gold deficit for the majority of the game, and were losing in their individual lanes. Hades and Guard continued to be the best lane performers, but huge props to Ayel and Minerva this game for capitalizing on mistakes Netshoes Miners made. Goku’s Orianna hit the most Shockwaves we’ve seen this week in CBLOL, but I’m personally still not sold on the power of this pick.

Rejoice, fans of Rensga, as they score their first win, but don’t get too drunk on their success yet, because Rensga still have a lot of visible vulnerabilities. Rensga is slowly picking up and shaking off the rust, but we’re seeing other teams quickly build up synergy as well. If Rensga wish to continue allowing Hades and Guard to play scaling bot lanes, Ayel, Minerva and Goku need to start getting early pressure, not just in terms of roaming and skirmishes, but in their actual laning and CS.

10. Flamengo Esports (W2: 0–2) LOUD + INTZ

Have I said I love new talent before? If not, let me say it here. I love new talent, and because of that, I’m perfectly fine with the rough start Flamengo had last week, especially with their strength of schedule. That said, this week will be a good place to start finding some wins. While LOUD might be a tough task, it’s not impossible, especially given how Flamengo had fairly even early games. INTZ is probably a closer match, and a good place to begin proving themselves as a CBLOL team.

Interesting roster change for the young Flamengo roster, with Gyeong (who played as a substitute last split for INTZ) coming in for Bounty. Director of Flamengo Esports Gidd was kind enough to clarify that Bounty is in fine health, and this wasn’t due to COVID, but more of a roster shift due to a variety of factors including work/life balance, individual prep and team cohesiveness. I certainly can’t argue with the results as Gyeong looked like one of the best performing players in the game against LOUD. Flamengo got an incredible early 4 kills in the bot lane as Tutsz hit 6 and instantly hijacked Twisted Fate’s ultimate: Destiny. Riding the wave of that momentum, Flamengo continued growing small leads in their solo lanes. As mentioned before, Flamengo’s problem hasn’t been their early game, but instead their mid-late game, and it proved to be their undoing yet again. Flamengo found themselves picking some questionable fights, and in the mid-game, a single mistake like that, can quickly snowball, as they lost Baron leading to their base being cracked open. They had one last good fight in them, with Flare pulling out a triple kill… but it was just too little too late, and the exposed Nexus got back-doored by Tay and Tinowns.

Slightly shockingly, Flamengo had their worst game yet against INTZ, where both teams were battling to pick up their first win of the split. On paper, this should have been Flamengo’s best chance to pick up a win, but reality is a cruel mistress and INTZ came together just in time to stop Flamengo. Flamengo had a pretty strong draft, with favourable lanes and good match-ups. None of that got to manifest though, as INTZ utilized their globals to constantly force rotations, and Flamengo just lagged behind. By the time Flamengo seemed to catch on to INTZ’s quick map movements, they were already significantly behind in gold and turrets, making it that much harder to try and come back. Even worse, Yampi’s Steadfast Presence denied a lot of Flamengo’s engage, and Flamengo weren’t able to find flanks, forcing them to walk head first into a beefed-up INTZ who had better item spikes. Flamengo’s 2 kills to 13 deaths pretty much perfectly encapsulates this game.

My heart bleeds for this young Flamengo squad, but I guess this is why CBLOL tends to recycle talent — better immediate results. After this week, Flamengo is now the only team still looking to pick up their first win of the season, and it’s likely to be a struggle yet. I still believe in the potential, and losses this early in the season go a long way to illuminating the weaknesses of teams. Fans of Flamengo, hold to the faith, but… be prepared for more heart ache in the short term.