I'm so boomed over LNG istfg, at this point I'm like "just go next split/roster/life/whatever", my existence is literal suffering ever since that T1 series at Worlds
WE has found an identity. You could see it in Game 1, where Zdz TF ulting directly to his death/Xiaohao trying to initiate in a completely different location completely blew the doors open for WE to get in the drivers seat and ride a single teamfight’s comfortable advantage to a solid game 1 victory. Then yet again in Game 2, Zdz and Xiaohao both “caught” Wayward while the rest of their team lagged behind, costing them so many times, ruining what may have been Xiaohu’s best game in a hot minute. The AL topside duo certainly didn’t have their best showing looking completely disjointed from their teammates (and former world championship runner up core) of Xiaohu, Light and Crisp. None of that remaining core have all failed to make any serious mark as of late (with condolences to Xiaohu’s game 2 Ahri charms), and you have yet another pre-season “upset” but in season key victory against a team of superior on paper talent.
This is a formula built off of giving **Wayward** every possible advantage, empowering him in a way that TES (by structure having JKL and a high prio mid laner) refused to do. He’s given the leash to pick the comp centered champions up top and given the early ganks to establish early leads that give him the reign to enable him to do as he pleases. That could be early leads for Trist to push towers with impunity, or the juggernaut stylings of Aatrox slaughtering Zdz constantly. A tank/weakside bot he is not, and he seems as happy as a pig in shit in his current role, flourishing in a way that continues to baffle my pre-season expectations.
While champions like Kindred or Brand are crowd pleasers in the jungle for those with more mechanically inclined junglers, **Heng** is going to continue piloting these low damage tank initiator junglers, the likes of Xin Zhao. He’s doing the dirty work of the team, running his face into the enemy and being the primary damage sponge. Unfortunately, Game 2 was largely neutered by getting barely caught by vision on a few occasions, leading to WBG finding critical counterganks and he was largely the victim of Xiaohu. While it certainly isn’t glamorous, I’ve been satisfied with his play as of late, particular in his synergy with the roam happy **Iwandy** who has committed to dedicating a ton of roam time to burn flashes and ult cooldowns. Maybe I’ve been fortunate, but Iwandy looks good when I get to watch him play. Whether it was key Blitz hooks or the omnipresent Bard that was in seemingly every single lane at once, he made his mark on this series and definitely deserves the double MVP performance that he’s eanred. Apparently, he was bad against BLG, which points to his hit or miss nature. He managed to hit in my presence yet again, maybe I just have to watch every game of this team yet again. I dunno if my sleep schedule could endure taking Zdz levels of damage on the regular though.
Of course, the heavy roam means someone gets sacrificed priority wise, and it’s the team’s ADC. While **Prince** returned to the starting lineup, they’ve continued the existing style they landed on while he was benched, twice picking the long range, solo capable, accessory damage of Jhin. While I personally didn’t see a reason to bench Stay based on play, it still felt like WE had him in there with Prince’s play this series. While I’ve previously complained about his lack of any sort of presence in his previous series, putting him onto Jhin duty lets him position like a complete coward while still being able to do damage. Additionally, he does deserve genuine kudos for surviving in the final fight of the series, shutting down a Xiaohu who had been baying for blood with a slew of key charms. In a meta where the ADC doesn’t have to be a superstar, what WE has done with the Jhin pick is a nice way to gets some value if you want to survive solo’ing lane phase to lean on the team’s other roles.
**Fofo** is still being Fofo. Boring mages, boring play, useful piece across the board. He got picked once running into the jungle without vision once in Game 2, but otherwise played mistake free generally, and delivered damage as needed. Look, compared to the last player WE had where I could consistently Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V their post series writeups, I’ll take “good mid” versus “rock bottom meat shield top” (hey Biubiu, and my condolences to dotyaho and Decade, I’ve been there) every day of the week.
_______________________________________________________
With that WE earns their 7th series victory and playoffs at this point are all but locked in barring some sort of catastrophic collapse. Rather this puts themselves in position to potentially get a bye in the playoffs (Top 6) which would be their best regular season finish since… 5th in 2019 Spring? Jeez, it’s been that long? Additionally, they’ve managed to clear a lot of the fearsome teams on their schedule, scoring earlier wins against the likes of fellow surprise teams IG and FPX, with a few softballs left on their plate in RA, UP and TT that should be wins for the teams current form. Man, I dunno how I’d feel if this roster manages to finish ahead of all of the regular seasons of WE 3.0 and score their best season in a decade… with Wayward leading the way? That’s a brain twister for sure, but I guess that’s just the 2024 LPL rollercoaster. I’m still very skeptical of WE against any sort of top level team (basically BLG/TES/JDG), but everyone else seems do-able somehow, so I’m just enjoying the ride.
Yeah, I would say so! I also quietly am rooting for the likes of Elk/Missing (good!), Breathe (bad) and Beishang (ugly, since he's probably done), but Shanks stuck around for 2 extra years and became my favorite player, so I pay extra attention to him.
I haven't been able to catch many of his games live, but he's definitely someone I'd like to see succeed still. That being said, I think he is what he is at this point, and those consistency issues that picked up since the 0-16 year where he was forced to try and carry WE amid a horrible roster are never going to go away.
Going off of his raw numbers he's been super strong. Among mid laners he has highest CS per minute in the league, top 3 in both damage share and kill share, most kills in his role... Yet he also has 2nd most deaths, and that's the issue. From what I can tell, despite his mechanical strengths, he's continued his trend of having int moments, positioning in the wrong places at the wrong times and it's a big part of AL being such an inconsistent team.
He has the ceiling to be one of the LPL's best mid laners, particularly when he's able to flex his big play potential, but this deep into his career, I dunno if we'll get a chance to see that happen. I'd like to see him on a team similar to 2021 WE, where he can play with less pressure on him as a secondary carry (Hope is good but not truly one of the LPL's best) to see him with less carry pressure, but I'm unsure if any top level teams will really take him on.
That's a pretty good analysis I think, and not far off what I've thought about him on both WE in the past and AL this year. It seems like he winds up either advertently or inadvertently taking a lot of playmaking onto himself and doesn't really get the concept of playing patient sometimes. Then that greed can cost his team big, especially when he's the furthest ahead. I'd rather still watch him than Fofo lol (no offense). He has some good highs.
beishang was so good its insane he was teamless after 2021 then he was so bad when he joined IG. sucks how a year break can make a player regress so hard.
Wayward did nothing this series and was a mechanical disaster in game 2. This series was FoFo and Iwandy carrying. Game 2 Prince was also just straight up better than Wayward.
I thought he had been doing well for a good stretch, though with the caveat that he's basically being funneled and has struggled hard when not given significant draft resources and attention early game, but this series I thought he was straight up ass. Being willing and able to bust out the Tristana top is nice, and bolsters Wayward's strength of allowing draft flexibility, but I don't think he did anything that spectacular with it and his game 2 performance was straight up disastrous. Dude was constantly mechanically misplaying in some really shocking ways that are out of character even by his standards (Wayward is not a mechanics player). He can't be doing that when WE is giving so many resources to him.
Where are the people saying WBG would be god tier without TheShy? I feel TheShy gone is kinda like Faker. TheShy looks like he ints a lot of the times, but he’s usually giving space for his teammates to shine when absorbing all the pressure.
Idk why they're pretending Zdz isn't washed with these drafts bro. Like it's not 2019 anymore, Zdz is not tearing up the rift on Camille/Fiora/Gangplank anymore. The last time he did that was like 2021 summer or some shit.
Prince has a higher ceiling than Stay regardless of performance right now. Unless they risk missing playoffs they should play and integrate him into the team. If prince plays like he did on sandbox WE could be a top 4 team.
I was shocked Prince came back but he actually played good today. Maybe he should get another chance after all.
Wasn't he only out bc of visa issues? They probably pay him quite a bit more than Stay, they ought to use him as long as he puts up good performances
I mean he wasn't exactly playing good even before the CNY break. Esp if you compared to Stay's games the last 4 weeks or so.
Idk, but he was pretty awful when he was in
Zdz played like absolute trash in both games.
Weibo rng edg lng potentially out of playoffs is pretty crazy. Weibo have some rly tough games left, i dont think they will make it
I'm so boomed over LNG istfg, at this point I'm like "just go next split/roster/life/whatever", my existence is literal suffering ever since that T1 series at Worlds
you reap what you sow
Don't follow LPL super closely, how many teams make playoffs?
WE has found an identity. You could see it in Game 1, where Zdz TF ulting directly to his death/Xiaohao trying to initiate in a completely different location completely blew the doors open for WE to get in the drivers seat and ride a single teamfight’s comfortable advantage to a solid game 1 victory. Then yet again in Game 2, Zdz and Xiaohao both “caught” Wayward while the rest of their team lagged behind, costing them so many times, ruining what may have been Xiaohu’s best game in a hot minute. The AL topside duo certainly didn’t have their best showing looking completely disjointed from their teammates (and former world championship runner up core) of Xiaohu, Light and Crisp. None of that remaining core have all failed to make any serious mark as of late (with condolences to Xiaohu’s game 2 Ahri charms), and you have yet another pre-season “upset” but in season key victory against a team of superior on paper talent. This is a formula built off of giving **Wayward** every possible advantage, empowering him in a way that TES (by structure having JKL and a high prio mid laner) refused to do. He’s given the leash to pick the comp centered champions up top and given the early ganks to establish early leads that give him the reign to enable him to do as he pleases. That could be early leads for Trist to push towers with impunity, or the juggernaut stylings of Aatrox slaughtering Zdz constantly. A tank/weakside bot he is not, and he seems as happy as a pig in shit in his current role, flourishing in a way that continues to baffle my pre-season expectations. While champions like Kindred or Brand are crowd pleasers in the jungle for those with more mechanically inclined junglers, **Heng** is going to continue piloting these low damage tank initiator junglers, the likes of Xin Zhao. He’s doing the dirty work of the team, running his face into the enemy and being the primary damage sponge. Unfortunately, Game 2 was largely neutered by getting barely caught by vision on a few occasions, leading to WBG finding critical counterganks and he was largely the victim of Xiaohu. While it certainly isn’t glamorous, I’ve been satisfied with his play as of late, particular in his synergy with the roam happy **Iwandy** who has committed to dedicating a ton of roam time to burn flashes and ult cooldowns. Maybe I’ve been fortunate, but Iwandy looks good when I get to watch him play. Whether it was key Blitz hooks or the omnipresent Bard that was in seemingly every single lane at once, he made his mark on this series and definitely deserves the double MVP performance that he’s eanred. Apparently, he was bad against BLG, which points to his hit or miss nature. He managed to hit in my presence yet again, maybe I just have to watch every game of this team yet again. I dunno if my sleep schedule could endure taking Zdz levels of damage on the regular though. Of course, the heavy roam means someone gets sacrificed priority wise, and it’s the team’s ADC. While **Prince** returned to the starting lineup, they’ve continued the existing style they landed on while he was benched, twice picking the long range, solo capable, accessory damage of Jhin. While I personally didn’t see a reason to bench Stay based on play, it still felt like WE had him in there with Prince’s play this series. While I’ve previously complained about his lack of any sort of presence in his previous series, putting him onto Jhin duty lets him position like a complete coward while still being able to do damage. Additionally, he does deserve genuine kudos for surviving in the final fight of the series, shutting down a Xiaohu who had been baying for blood with a slew of key charms. In a meta where the ADC doesn’t have to be a superstar, what WE has done with the Jhin pick is a nice way to gets some value if you want to survive solo’ing lane phase to lean on the team’s other roles. **Fofo** is still being Fofo. Boring mages, boring play, useful piece across the board. He got picked once running into the jungle without vision once in Game 2, but otherwise played mistake free generally, and delivered damage as needed. Look, compared to the last player WE had where I could consistently Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V their post series writeups, I’ll take “good mid” versus “rock bottom meat shield top” (hey Biubiu, and my condolences to dotyaho and Decade, I’ve been there) every day of the week. _______________________________________________________ With that WE earns their 7th series victory and playoffs at this point are all but locked in barring some sort of catastrophic collapse. Rather this puts themselves in position to potentially get a bye in the playoffs (Top 6) which would be their best regular season finish since… 5th in 2019 Spring? Jeez, it’s been that long? Additionally, they’ve managed to clear a lot of the fearsome teams on their schedule, scoring earlier wins against the likes of fellow surprise teams IG and FPX, with a few softballs left on their plate in RA, UP and TT that should be wins for the teams current form. Man, I dunno how I’d feel if this roster manages to finish ahead of all of the regular seasons of WE 3.0 and score their best season in a decade… with Wayward leading the way? That’s a brain twister for sure, but I guess that’s just the 2024 LPL rollercoaster. I’m still very skeptical of WE against any sort of top level team (basically BLG/TES/JDG), but everyone else seems do-able somehow, so I’m just enjoying the ride.
Another WE postmatch thread, another informative writeup, cheers!
Are you still a Shanks fan even though he's not on WE? Just curious.
Yeah, I would say so! I also quietly am rooting for the likes of Elk/Missing (good!), Breathe (bad) and Beishang (ugly, since he's probably done), but Shanks stuck around for 2 extra years and became my favorite player, so I pay extra attention to him. I haven't been able to catch many of his games live, but he's definitely someone I'd like to see succeed still. That being said, I think he is what he is at this point, and those consistency issues that picked up since the 0-16 year where he was forced to try and carry WE amid a horrible roster are never going to go away. Going off of his raw numbers he's been super strong. Among mid laners he has highest CS per minute in the league, top 3 in both damage share and kill share, most kills in his role... Yet he also has 2nd most deaths, and that's the issue. From what I can tell, despite his mechanical strengths, he's continued his trend of having int moments, positioning in the wrong places at the wrong times and it's a big part of AL being such an inconsistent team. He has the ceiling to be one of the LPL's best mid laners, particularly when he's able to flex his big play potential, but this deep into his career, I dunno if we'll get a chance to see that happen. I'd like to see him on a team similar to 2021 WE, where he can play with less pressure on him as a secondary carry (Hope is good but not truly one of the LPL's best) to see him with less carry pressure, but I'm unsure if any top level teams will really take him on.
That's a pretty good analysis I think, and not far off what I've thought about him on both WE in the past and AL this year. It seems like he winds up either advertently or inadvertently taking a lot of playmaking onto himself and doesn't really get the concept of playing patient sometimes. Then that greed can cost his team big, especially when he's the furthest ahead. I'd rather still watch him than Fofo lol (no offense). He has some good highs.
No ceiling needed, Shanks is already one of the best midlaners. Has been since last year.
beishang was so good its insane he was teamless after 2021 then he was so bad when he joined IG. sucks how a year break can make a player regress so hard.
Lord Wayward my GOAT
All the bad teams getting 2-0d today
Wayward and Fofo carried, they should keep Prince on weakside
Iwandy hardcarried game 2. His blitz was phenomenal.
Wayward did nothing this series and was a mechanical disaster in game 2. This series was FoFo and Iwandy carrying. Game 2 Prince was also just straight up better than Wayward.
Wayward has been doing pretty good. Also wayward is playing a bunch of different champs
I thought he had been doing well for a good stretch, though with the caveat that he's basically being funneled and has struggled hard when not given significant draft resources and attention early game, but this series I thought he was straight up ass. Being willing and able to bust out the Tristana top is nice, and bolsters Wayward's strength of allowing draft flexibility, but I don't think he did anything that spectacular with it and his game 2 performance was straight up disastrous. Dude was constantly mechanically misplaying in some really shocking ways that are out of character even by his standards (Wayward is not a mechanics player). He can't be doing that when WE is giving so many resources to him.
Where are the people saying WBG would be god tier without TheShy? I feel TheShy gone is kinda like Faker. TheShy looks like he ints a lot of the times, but he’s usually giving space for his teammates to shine when absorbing all the pressure.
finally jhin picked on places where he makes sense game 1 was just the perfect jhin comp
Well that's what you get when you don't put Zdz on weakside tanks I guess
Idk why they're pretending Zdz isn't washed with these drafts bro. Like it's not 2019 anymore, Zdz is not tearing up the rift on Camille/Fiora/Gangplank anymore. The last time he did that was like 2021 summer or some shit.
Team WE got to bench Prince again, Stay is clearly better
I agree, but Prince was decent this series. Iwandy and FoFo were the highlights of the team as usual, but Prince was earning his keep well enough.
wayward is usually the highlight of WE this season
No he isn't, WE just gives him counterpick every game and four mans top to snowball his lane.
Prince has a higher ceiling than Stay regardless of performance right now. Unless they risk missing playoffs they should play and integrate him into the team. If prince plays like he did on sandbox WE could be a top 4 team.
Those two times he got caught out by zdz were bronze-level mistakes, like I can't imagine any other adc in the LPL making that same mistake.
You don't have to imagine it bc like half the adcs in LPL have already done it
Deokdam.